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BOOK    232.9.B46   c.  1 

BERGUER    #    SOME    ASPECTS    OF    LIFE    OF 

JESUS 


3  T1S3  DDDbbMVb  5 


^"  --'  ^    ( 


S: 


SOME  ASPECTS  OF 

THE   LIFE  OF  JESUS 

FROM    THE    PSYCHOLOGICAL    AND      ' 
PSYCHO-ANALYTIC  POINT  OF  VIEW 


BY 

GEORGES   BERGUER 

Lecturer  at   the  University  of  Geneva 


TRANSLATED    BY 

ELEANOR  STIMSON   BROOKS 

AND 

VAN  WYCK   BROOKS 


a 


NEW  YORK 

HARCOURT,  BRACE  AND  COMPANY 


COPYRIGHT,   1923,  BY 
HARCOURT,  BRACE  AND  COMPANY,  INC. 


/87Jt 


PRINTED    IN    THE    U.  S.   A.   BY 

THE    QUINN    &    BODEN    COMPANY 

RAHWAY.    N      J 


PREFACE 

It  is  not  the  object  of  this  work  to  repeat  what  has 
already  been  said,  and  well  said,  by  others.  It  makes  no 
attempt  to  follow  that  fashion  of  modern  erudition  which 
delights  in  reopening  questions  that  have  been  settled  in 
order  to  settle  them  again  with  a  great  parade  of  impressive 
citations.  Nor  does  it  attempt  either  to  raise  or  to  solve 
all  the  theological,  critical,  or  practical  problems  which  the 
Life  of  Jesus  presents.  Its  aim  is  at  once  more  modest 
and  quite  different. 

Having  had  occasion  to  investigate,  during  a  course  of 
lectures  at  the  University  of  Geneva,  some  aspects  both 
of  the  so-called  primitive  religions  and  of  the  Oriental  re- 
ligions that  invaded  the  Roman  Empire  at  about  the  same 
period  as  Christianity,  the  author  was  much  struck  with 
the  unexpected  light  which  the  new  methods  in  psychology 
cast  upon  these  religions  and  with  the  very  suggestive  re- 
semblances between  them  which  these  methods  brought  to 
the  surface.  Since  then  a  deeply  cherished  inclination  has 
impelled  him  to  attempt  to  apply  these  methods  to  that 
great  event  which,  for  nearly  twenty  centuries,  and  because 
it  ordains  and  directs  the  evolution  of  the  human  con- 
science, has  dominated  the  history  of  the  world. 

In  the  face  of  the  deformations  to  which  the  churches 
themselves  have  only  too  often  subjected  Christianity,  it 
is  supremely  interesting  to  return  once  more  to  the  original 
documents  which  we  possess  concerning  Christ  and  to  focus 
upon  this  great  figure  all  the  lights  of  modern  science. 
It  is  obvious  that  researches  in  this  domain  must  be  con- 


iv  PREFACE 

ducted  with  great  prudence  and  with  the  utmost  humility. 

There  are  some  minds  that  will  perhaps  fail  to  find  in 
these  pages  what  they  are  seeking:  a  re-statement,  a  sift- 
ing, and  a  solution,  in  the  traditional  scholastic  manner, 
of  the  questions  raised  by  the  theologians.  This  is  not 
because  the  author  is  unaware  of  the  value  of  the  exegetical 
and  critical  method  of  work,  or  because  he  attaches  small 
importance  to  it.  On  the  contrary,  he  will  avail  himself 
of  it  in  large  measure  wherever  this  labour  has  arrived 
at  certainties,  or  at  least  at  conclusions  that  have  a  high 
degree  of  probability;  but  it  has  seemed  to  him  that  there 
is  a  better  course  than  to  retrace  forever  the  beaten  paths. 
On  such  a  subject  no  source  of  investigation  ought  to  be 
neglected.  Beside  theology  there  is  room  for  psychology. 
The  author  will  therefore  attempt  to  apply  the  method  and 
the  discoveries  of  the  latter  to  certain  aspects  of  the  life 
of  Jesus,  not  with  any  pretence  of  arriving  at  definite  con- 
clusions, but  rather  with  the  less  ambitious  hope  of  under- 
standing a  little  better  a  history  which,  for  the  very  reason 
that  it  interests  us  in  the  highest  degree,  distresses  us  at 
times  because  it  still  contains,  as  many  feel,  so  much  that 
is  obscure  and  remote. 

The  following  pages  were  not  planned  with  the  intention 
of  publication.  They  formed  the  subject  of  a  course  of 
lectures  delivered  at  the  University  of  Geneva  during  the 
winter  term  of  1917  and  the  summer  term  of  1919.  To 
this  is  due  their  rather  abrupt  and  informal  character. 
When  one's  desire  is  not  so  much  to  produce  a  definitive 
work  as  to  arouse  reflection,  to  invite  corrections  and  to 
stimulate  the  production  of  more  complete  works,  it  is  better 
to  give  one's  thoughts  immediately  to  the  public  rather 
than  to  await  indefinitely  the  sacred  hour  when  irrefutable 
conclusions  will  detach  themselves  from  it  as  ripe  fruit  falls 
from  a  withering  tree.    It  is  by  passing  from  hand  to  hand 


PREFACE  V 

that  the  torch  of  life  keeps  its  flame;  by  retaining  it  too 
long  one  runs  the  risk  of  handing  on  to  those  who  come 
after  one  nothing  but  a  few  ashes  and  a  little  burned-out 
rosin.  With  these  feelings,  the  author  offers  the  present 
volume  to  souls  who  seek,  love,  and  labour,  in  the  hope 
that  their  researches,  their  love,  and  their  labour  may  ex- 
tend its  lines  and  fill  in  some  of  its  lacunae. 

May  he  be  permitted  to  recall,  with  great  respect,  these 
words  of  a  master  whose  last  lectures  he  had  the  privilege 
of  hearing: 

"Our  theology  in  the  French  tongue  takes  particular  de- 
light in  the  external  sphere  of  material  and  historical  fact, 
either  in  order  to  defend  it  with  the  arguments  of  authority 
or  to  attack  it  with  the  arguments  of  critics;  it  tends  to 
avoid  the  inner  world;  one  would  say  it  was  not  familiar 
with  this  world,  that  it  did  not  feel  at  home  there. 

"It  must  be  brought  back  to  it,  acclimated  in  it,  made 
fast  to  it.  It  must  understand  the  nature  of  that  faith  which 
is  not  sight,  that  faith  which  is  based  on  the  inward  aspira- 
tions, the  primordial  conditions  of  the  spiritual  life,  the 
feeling  of  personality,  of  life,  of  plenitude,  of  glory.  To 
move  in  this  world  of  faith  is  to  find  it  more  real,  more 
living,  much  more  real,  more  living  than  the  other;  and  by 
moving  in  it,  by  surveying  it,  by  investigating  it  one  reaps 
as  much  edification  as  enjoyment.  Let  us  turn  our  re- 
ligious and  theological  thought  in  this  direction.  But  if 
we  are  to  advance  here  we  must  desire  neither  to  be  or- 
thodox nor  to  be  liberal;  we  must  desire  to  be  intrinsically 
Christian,  that  is  to  say  theologians  to  whom  nothing  that 
is  inward  and  true  in  orthodoxy  is  alien  but  whose  method 
remains  that  of  a  sovereign  liberalism.  I  mean  by  this 
last  word  the  truly  independent  liberalism  of  a  spirit  that 
has  freely  arrived  and  firmly  taken  its  stand  at  the  heart 
of  things,  and  that  has  not  allowed  itself  to  be  turned  aside 


vi  PREFACE 

either  by  fanatics  or  by  literal-minded  detractors.  May  I 
be  allowed,  in  closing,  to  wish  such  a  spirit  for  the  younger 
generation!"  ^ 

1  BouviER,  Aug.,  Dogmatique  chretienne,  publiee  d'apres  le  cours 
manuscrit  et  les  notes  de  I'auteur  par  Edouard  Montet.  Paris,  Fisch- 
bacher,  1903,,  vol.  II,  pp.  122-123, 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

PREFACE iii 

INTRODUCTION 3 

CHAPTER    I.     METHOD 5 

1.  Theology 5 

2.  Psychology 7 

3.  Psycho-analysis 15 

CHAPTER    II.     CHRISTIANITY    AND   THE    MYSTERY-RELIGIONS    .          .  27 

1.  Parallelism  of  the  Psychic  Prodromes  of  Christianity 

and  the  Mystery-Religions 33 

2.  The   Symbolism  of  the  Mysteries :   Its  Relations  with 

That   of   Christianity 38 

3.  Diflference  in  the  Outcome  of  the  Two  Prophetic  Lines  59 

CHAPTER   III.     THE  DOCUMENTS   OF  THE  LIFE  OF   JESUS    ...  65 

CHAPTER  IV.     THE  DENIERS  OF  THE  HISTORICITY  OF  CHRIST      .         .  75 

CHAPTER   V.     THE   DOCUMENTARY  VALUE   OF  THE   GOSPELS         .         .  87 

ASPECTS   OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

CHAPTER   I.    THE   BIRTH    OF    JESUS 95 

1.  The    Date 95 

2.  The   Place 97 

3.  The  Circumstances 99 

4.  Psycho-analysis  and  the  Study  of  Myths  and  Legends  105 

5.  Application   of  the   Two   Methods   of   Psycho-analytic 

Interpretation  to  the  Accounts  of  the  Birth  of  Christ  123 

CHAPTER  II.     CHILDHOOD  AND   YOUTH I30 

1.  Influences 130 

2.  Jesus  in  the  Temple  at  the  Age  of  Twelve   .       .       .142 

CHAPTER   III.     BAPTISM    AND    TEMPTATION 1 53 

1.  The  Baptism 153 

2.  The    Temptation 161 

vii 


viii  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

CHAPTER   IV.     THE   TEACHING   OF   JESUS l8o 

I.    Its    Form i8o 

"V,    2.    The    Parables 184 

3.   The  Essence  of  Christ's  Teaching:  The  Kingdom  and 

the    Messiah 190 

CHAPTER    V.     THE    MIRACLES 20I 

1.  The    Explanations 204 

2.  The  Healings 206 

3.  Miracles  of  Which  the  Moral  Import  is  Obvious       .  214 

4.  Miracles  of  Which  the  Moral  Meaning  is  Difficult  to 

Grasp 225 

CHAPTER   VI.     THE   TRANSFIGURATION 228 

CHAPTER   VII.     THE   PERSONALITY    OF    JESUS 238 

CHAPTER  VIII.    THE  DEATH   OF  JESUS 256 

CHAPTER    IX.    THE    RESURRECTION 270 

1.  The    Documents 271 

2.  The  Event 280 

APPENDIX.     THE  POETRY  OF  JESUS 295 

BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  THE  LIVES  OF  JESUS   .       .       .       .315 

INDEX 325 


INTRODUCTION 


INTRODUCTION 

Most  of  the  Lives  of  Jesus  which  have  been  published 
begin  with  more  or  less  lengthy  considerations  of  the  ante- 
cedents of  the  gospel  history.  They  try  to  envisage  the 
life  of  Christ  from  a  double  point  of  view,  that  of  the  his- 
tory of  religions  and  that  of  the  history  of  Israel.  We  shall 
disregard  here  everything  that  concerns  Judaism  and  the 
religion  of  the  Old  Testament,  not  because  we  do  not  con- 
sider that  it  presents  a  problem,  and  a  most  important 
problem,  but  simply  because  the  question  has  been  very 
satisfactorily  and  adequately  treated  and  because  its  ele- 
ments are  easily  accessible  to  those  who  wish  to  investigate 
it.^ 

For  the  same  reason  we  do  not  consider  it  incumbent  on 
us  to  write  a  detailed  historical  treatise  on  the  religions 
which  ended  and,  as  it  were,  reached  their  summit  in  Chris- 
tianity. It  has  seemed  to  us  more  interesting  to  give  our 
special  attention  to  the  Greco-Roman  paganism  under  the 
form  which  it  had  assumed  at  the  moment  when  Chris- 
tianity entered  into  direct  relations  with  it,  that  is  to  say 
the  Mystery-Religions.  Here  again  we  have  no  intention  of 
describing  in  detail  the  vast  movement  of  thought  and  affec- 
tivity  which  took  shape  in  Hellenistic  syncretism  and  the 
Mystery-Religions.^  We  shall  confine  ourselves  to  indicat- 
ing in  a  note  the  sources  from  which  one  may  draw  in  order 

1  Cf.  the  various  Lives  of  Jesus  in  French,  German  and  English 
(bibHography  at  the  end  of  the  volume). 

2  Such  a  description,  to  be  interesting,  would  require  considerable 
space.  We  have  made  it  the  subject  of  a  course  of  lectures  which 
might  serve  in  a  way  as  an  introduction  to  this  book  but  which  we 
cannot  think  of  transcribing  here. 

3 


4  INTRODUCTION 

to  form  an  idea  of  it,  and  we  shall  assume  that  our  readers 
are  familiar  with  the  principal  aspects  of  that  great  current 
which,  in  the  first  centuries  of  our  era,  came  to  mingle  its 
waters  with  those  of  the  Christian  current. 

It  may  be  added  that  if  we  have  been  led  to  dwell  on 
the  Mystery-Religions  it  is  not  because  of  the  historical 
influence  they  may  have  had  on  Christianity,  but  rather 
because  of  the  identity  of  the  psychological  development 
that  one  observes  in  both  these  movements. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  almost  everything  has  already  been 
said  that  can  be  said  about  history  and  historical  influences. 
On  the  other  hand,  a  great  deal  remains  to  be  said  about 
the  psychology  of  paganism  as  well  as  that  of  Christianity, 
and  about  their  relations.  Here  the  question  is  not  so  much 
one  of  reciprocal  influences  as  of  a  similarity  in  psycho- 
logical processes,  a  question  of  analogy  and  parallelism  in 
development.  If,  as  Tertullian  said,  "the  soul  is  naturally 
Christian,"  one  should  find  the  traces  of  this  "nature"  in 
paganism  itself,  and  it  appears  indeed  as  if  this  might  be 
the  case.  It  is  therefore  a  psychological  and  not  a  historical 
interest  that  has  led  us  to  insert  in  this  introduction  a  sec- 
tion on  the  Mystery-Religions;  and  this  quite  special  direc- 
tion of  our  interest  suffices  also  to  explain  and  justify  the 
omissions  of  which  we  have  already  spoken. 


CHAPTER  I 
METHOD 

§  I.     THEOLOGY 

Until  about  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century,  it  was 
the  custom  to  consider  religion  and  the  different  religions 
as  so  many  intellectual  verities  the  grounds  of  which  were 
to  be  demonstrated  or  rejected  by  means  of  logic.  Christian 
theologians  sought  to  prove  the  superiority  of  Christianity 
to  the  other  religions  by  establishing  the  superior  value  of 
its  dogmas,  supporting  the  truth  of  these  dogmas  on  proofs 
of  an  intellectual  order.  Save  for  a  few  exceptions  (for 
example,  those  mystic  souls  who  insisted  and  have  always 
insisted  upon  the  life  and  the  reasons  of  the  heart)  every 
one  believed  that  the  essential  thing  in  religion  was  to 
remain  convinced  of  the  legitimacy  of  certain  intellectual 
beliefs.  Such  is  the  dogmatic  conception  of  religion.  "All 
the  religions  which  preceded  Christianity  are  false  and  in- 
ferior," said  the  theologians,  "because  their  dogmas,  their 
rites,  their  beliefs,  their  ceremonies  are  either  ridiculous  or 
cruel,  or  bear  the  stamp  of  superstition,  or  are  morally 
false."  The  variations  on  this  theme  were,  to  be  sure,  very 
numerous  and  of  many  shades,  but  they  all  led  back,  con- 
sciously or  unconsciously,  to  the  same  leitmotiv:  religion, 
and  every  religion,  is  an  assemblage  of  truths  or  errors 
which  reveal  themselves  as  true  or  false  to  an  intelligence 
that  is  sufficiently  skilled  to  judge  them. 

Let  it  not  be  supposed  that  this  conception  has  been  alto- 
gether abandoned  even  to-day.  It  remains  that  of  the 
great  mass  of  the  people;  it  is  undoubtedly  still  maintained 
by  many  ministers  and  preachers;  it  forms  the  basis  of  all 

5 


6  INTRODUCTION 

sorts  of  apologetical  efforts  which,  though  often  clumsy, 
are  very  well-intentioned.  We  may  add  that  it  is  responsi- 
ble for  the  ruin  of  many  sincere  lives  which  have  run 
aground  on  this  rock  of  intellectualism  in  the  sphere  of 
religion  and  which,  unable  to  arrive  at  an  intellectual  syn- 
thesis of  their  personal  experiences  and  the  dogmas  of 
Christianity,  have  made  it  a  matter  of  conscience  to  relin- 
quish a  faith  which  they  have  not  always  been  able  to  un- 
derstand. 

The  best  of  our  Protestant  theologians,  however,  have 
already  appealed  for  another  method  and  centred  their 
hopes  upon  its  appearance.^  Gaston  Frommel,  speaking  of 
a  special  point  in  the  Christian  experience,  exclaims:  "A 
great  deal  might  be  said  on  this  point;  there  are  many  ob- 
servations that  might  be  made  about  it  which,  alas,  have  not 
yet  been  made,  made,  I  mean,  with  due  method  and  rigour. 
In  these  matters  Christian  theology  is  still  on  trial.  It  has 
never  done  what  the  natural  sciences  have  done:  it  has 
not  profited  by  the  treasure  of  the  experiences  of  eighteen 
centuries  of  faith  which  have  made  Christianity  a  part  of 
humanity.  It  has  remained  doctrinaire,  speculative  or  cau- 
tiously historical,  instead  of  becoming  inductive.  It  has 
not  yet  arrived  at  the  exact  and  rigorously  scientific  results 
which  it  might  have  reached  if  it  had  made  use  of  the 
accumulated  riches  of  the  hundreds  and  thousands  of  Chris- 
tian lives  that  have  been  lived  from  the  first  centuries  down 
to  our  own  day.  As  a  result,  lacking  the  records  and  the 
carefully  attested,  verified,  and  classified  facts,  it  is  obliged, 
when  it  enters  this  domain  (which  is  that  of  the  theology 
of  the  future),  to  take  its  stand  upon  commonplace  gener- 
alities or  those  mere  instinctive  presuppositions  which  can 
always  be  disputed.  .  .  ." 

1  Schleiermacher  was  the  first  to  open  the  way,  but  his  efforts  were 
necessarily  tentative. 


METHOD  7 

And  he  adds  that  this  work  will  be  accomplished,  not  in 
a  day  or  by  one  man,  but  by  hundreds  working  together.^ 

§  2.     PSYCHOLOGY 

At  the  moment  when  Frommel  uttered  these  words  a 
movement  was  already  taking  shape  that  was  to  meet  the 
desire  which  he  expressed  and  supply  the  want  which  he 
was  pointing  out.  This  movement  was  born  almost  at  the 
same  time  in  several  different  countries  and  set  out  to  ap- 
proach religious  phenomena  in  a  different  fashion  from  that 
which  had  been  employed  hitherto.  In  Germany,  Wundt 
and  his  school  were  beginning  to  study  the  religious  modes 
and  customs  of  primitive  peoples  as  a  branch  of  ethnology. 

In  America,  James,  Leuba,  Stanley  Hall,  and  others  who 
followed  them,  adopting  a  more  individualistic  method, 
were  gathering  observations  of  all  sorts,  grouping  them, 
analysing  them  and,  while  taking  great  pains  to  avoid  any 
preconceived  theory  in  regard  to  them,  claiming  their  right 
to  describe  them  in  the  same  way  and  as  of  the  same 
general  character  as  other  psychic  phenomena.  Little  by 
little  the  Psychology  of  Religion  was  taking  form;  it  was 
creating  its  own  method  of  investigation  and  demanding  its 
rights.  It  has  now  come  forward  with  a  sufficient  list  of 
works  to  its  credit,  and  works  whose  value  is  sufficiently 
substantial  for  us  to  give  this  new  science  serious  consider^ 
ation. 

Now  the  whole  character  of  these  books  and  their  gen- 
eral tendency  have  contributed  to  give  the  cultivated  public 
a  new  idea  of  religion.  In  the  light  of  these  works  religion 
to-day  appears  to  us  as  a  branch  of  the  mental  activity  of 
humanity.    We  can  no  longer  separate  it  from  the  general 

2  G.    Frommel.     La  verite   humaine.     St.-Blaise,    Foyer   solidariste, 
IQIO,  II,  p.  252. 


8  INTRODUCTION 

field  of  psychic  experiences.  When  this  word  religion  is 
pronounced  in  our  presence  we  no  longer  see  a  group  of 
dogmatic  ideas,  doctrines,  or  truths  which  are  isolated  from 
others  and  the  verity  of  which  must  be  demonstrated  by 
means  of  reason;  rather  it  suggests  to  us  individual  or  col- 
lective psychic  phenomena,  such  as  conversion,  regenera- 
tion, religious  awakenings,  mass  movements,  etc.,  which  are 
to  be  observed  and  described  dispassionately  and  with  as 
much  exactitude  as  possible.  Religious  psychology  seems 
to  have  given  the  death-blow  to  the  syllogistic  and  scholas- 
tic conception  of  religion.  It  will  become  increasingly  diffi- 
cult for  a  mind  with  any  cultivation  to  hold  these  antiquated 
views;  less  and  less  shall  we  be  able  to  consider  religion 
apart  from  the  rest  of  human  life,  relegating  it  to  a  separate 
compartment.  Henceforward  we  shall  be  obliged  to  ex- 
amine it  in  its  constant  relations  with  all  the  rest  of  the 
mental  and  physiological  life  of  man. 

Religious  psychology  has  revealed  to  us  a  fact  of  the 
highest  importance  which  we  have  long  divined,  namely, 
that  religion,  far  from  being  a  truth  external  to  man,  which 
he  must  swallow  like  a  pill,  is  attached,  on  the  contrary, 
to  the  most  intimate  fibres  of  his  being,  that  it  is  closely 
bound  up  with  all  that  is  deepest  in  his  nature  and  comes 
to  him  from  within.  Man  is  a  religious  being  in  the  same 
way  that  he  is  a  being  who  thinks,  wills,  and  feels.  Man 
becomes  religious  not  because,  at  a  certain  moment  of  his 
development,  he  has  encountered  a  certain  group  of  dog- 
matic ideas,  doctrines,  or  formulas  which  he  has  been 
pleased  to  adopt,  but  first  and  foremost  because  his  desires, 
needs,  and  feelings — one  whole  side  of  his  psychic  life — 
impel  him  in  the  direction  of  the  religion  which  he  adopts. 
The  religion  does  not  exist  in  the  dogmas,  the  doctrines,  and 
the  ceremonies  before  it  exists  in  the  man  himself.  It  is 
because  it  exists  first  in  the  psychic  life  of  the  individual 


METHOD  9 

that  he  later  finds  it  again,  so  to  speak,  and  accepts  it  in 
the  intellectual  systems  that  are  presented  to  him  or  in 
the  ceremonies  and  the  rites  which  respond  to  his  conscious 
or  unconscious  aspirations. 

Psychology  differs  from  theology,  then,  in  that  it  rests 
on  a  scientific  basis:  the  observation  and  the  classification 
of  facts.  Theology,  on  the  contrary,  has  as  a  rule  quite 
another  foundation:  it  is  based  on  the  admitted  truth  of 
certain  beliefs,  certain  doctrines,  a  theory  that  is  precon- 
ceived or  accepted  by  virtue  of  an  act  of  faith,  and  it  seeks 
to  demonstrate  the  truth  and  the  soundness  of  this  theory. 

A  Christian  theologian,  for  example,  will  approach  the 
person  of  Jesus  with  the  design  of  demonstrating  that  he 
is  indeed  the  Saviour  to  whom  the  faith  of  the  Church  clings, 
and  that  she  is  right  in  considering  him  as  such,  that  he 
fulfils  the  prophecies  concerning  the  Messiah,  and  other 
related  questions. 

A  psychologist,  on  the  other  hand,  will  not  concern  him- 
self with  these  questions  at  all.  He  will  approach  the 
religious  manifestations  of  such  and  such  a  hero  or  founder 
of  a  religion  as  he  would  approach  those  of  any  other  man; 
he  will  seek  to  analyse  them  as  facts,  to  relate  them  to  other 
similar  facts,  to  compare  the  one  series  of  facts  with  the 
other;  then,  if  any  conclusion  results  from  these  analyses 
and  comparisons,  he  will  accept  it  and  range  it  in  its  proper 
place  among  the  data  which  he  has  acquired,  whether  it 
contradicts  or  whether  it  confirms  the  faith  of  this  or  that 
religious  group. 

The  psychology  of  religion,  then,  studies  facts,  not  ideas, 
states  of  consciousness,  not  doctrines.  It  aims  to  remain 
scientific;  it  concerns  itself  not  with  religion  but  with  re- 
ligious phenomena,  and  it  seeks  to  discover  the  laws  by 
which  they  arise  and  develop,  disregarding  the  entire  meta- 
physical question  and  taking  cognisance,  not  of  the  first 


lo  INTRODUCTION 

cause,  but  of  the  secondary  causes  alone.  In  this  sense  we 
may  say  that  the  psychology  of  religion  is  much  more  dis- 
interested than  theology;  it  is  not  in  the  service  of  any 
creed;  it  is  not  in  the  service  of  anybody.  But  we  must 
not  look  to  it  for  edification;  it  has  nothing  of  that  sort  to 
give.  It  limits  itself  to  arranging,  classifying,  observing,  and 
drawing  conclusions.  It  is  for  the  individual  to  utilize  its 
results  as  best  he  may  according  to  his  own  needs  and  to 
discover  how  they  may  serve  him  in  clarifying  or  modifying 
his  personal  conceptions. 

In  his  latest  book,  The  Psychology  of  Religion,^  one  of 
the  best  known  of  the  American  psychologists,  George  Coe, 
touches  on  a  point  that  interests  us  particularly  inasmuch 
as  it  answers  the  preliminary  question  implied  in  the  study 
we  are  undertaking  to-day:  "Has  psychology  the  right  to 
concern  itself  with  persons?"  The  tendency  of  some 
psychologists  might  lead  us  to  suppose  that  it  has  not. 
Considering  the  insistence  with  which  a  number  of  them 
lay  stress  on  the  fact  that  we  are  concerned  in  psychology 
only  with  states  of  consciousness,  one  might  suppose  that 
the  "I,"  individuality,  is  for  them  something  that  is  non- 
existent or  unattainable.  Theoretically  this  point  of  view 
may  be  upheld.  It  is  evident  that  strict  psychological  ob- 
servation always  has  to  do  with  this  or  that  state  of  mind 
of  which  it  happens  to  be  examining  the  conditions,  the 
structure,  and  the  consequences  independently  of  the  person 
who  experiences  that  state  of  mind.  From  this  one  might 
conclude  that  the  person  is  non-existent,  or  at  least  a  neg- 
ligible quantity.  Here  again  it  is  an  American  who  comes 
to  save  us  from  academic  pedantry  with  his  strong  common 
sense  and  his  clear,  candid  vision  of  realities.  Mr.  George 
Coe  distinguishes,  in  the  psychology  of  religion,  two  differ- 
ent forms,  two  types  of  research: 

8  The  Psychology  of  Religion.    University  of  Chicago  Press,  1916. 


METHOD  n 

I.  Sometimes  the  problem  is  one  of  separating  the  ele- 
ments of  a  religious  experience  which  comprises  a  great  num- 
ber of  varied  psychic  data;  we  then  place  ourselves  at  what 
Coe  calls  the  structural  point  of  view.  This,  for  example, 
is  what  Starbuck  *  has  done  in  examining  the  various  states 
of  consciousness  which,  taken  together,  constitute  conver- 
sion; it  is  also  what  Leuba^  and  Delacroix^  have  done  in 
connection  with  mysticism,  and  King,^  Pratt,*  and  Durck- 
heim  ®  in  connection  with  the  genesis  and  the  growth  of 
religion  in  the  individual  and  in  the  race. 

II.  But  this  is  not  the  whole  story.  Religion  is  not 
merely  an  assemblage  of  states  of  consciousness  of  a  special 
kind;  it  is  also  a  struggle  with  destiny;  it  is  directed  towards 
an  end,  towards  an  aim;  the  devotee  is  in  search  of  some- 
thing, he  follows  a  plan.  Religion  has  a  certain  connection 
with  the  evaluating  phase  of  experience,  with  the  side  of 
life  which  is  concerned  with  the  meaning  of  things.  This 
also  we  must  take  into  account;  and  in  doing  so  we  find 
ourselves  adopting  a  new  point  of  view  which  Coe  calls 

*  Starbuck,  E.  D.,  The  Psychology  of  Religion.  2nd  edition,  Lon- 
don, Scott,  1901. 

5  Leuba,  J.,  L'Cs  tendances  religieuses  chez  les  mystiques  chretiens. 
Rev.  philos.,  LIV,  1902,  pp.  1-36  and  441-487. 

Id.,  The  Psychology  of  the  Christian  Mystics.  Mind,  N.  S.,  XIV,  pp. 
15-27. 

^  Delacroix,  Essai  sur  le  mysticisme  speculatif  en  Allemagne  an 
XIV^  Steele.     Paris,  Alcan,  1900. 

Id.,  Etudes  d'histoire  et  de  psychologie  du  mysticisme.  Les  grands 
mystiques  chretiens.     Paris,  Alcan,  1908. 

■^  tCiNG,  J.,  The  Development  of  Religion:  a  Study  in  Anthropology 
and  Social  Psychology.    New  York,  Macmillan,  1910. 

Id.,  a  Psychological  Theory  of  the  Origin  of  Religion.  New  York, 
Acad,  of  Sc,  26  Feb.,  1906. 

8  Pratt,  J.  B.,  Concerning  the  Origin  of  Religion.  Amer.  Jour,  of 
Relig.  Psych.,  II,  p.  257. 

Id.,  The  Psychology  of  Religious  Belief .    New  York,  Macmillan,  1907. 

s  Durckheim,  E.,  De  la  definition  des  phenomenes  religieux.  An. 
sociol.,  II,  pp.  1-28. 

Id.,  Examen  critique  des  systemes  classiques  sur  les  origines  de  la 
pensee  religiause.    Rev.  philos.,  LXVII,  1909,  pp.  10-15. 

Id.,  Les  formes  elementaires  de  la  vie  religieuse.  Le  systime 
totemique  en  Australie.    Paris,  Alcan,  1912. 


12  INTRODUCTION 

the  junctional  point  of  view.  Psychology  should  adopt  this 
as  well,  and  as  a  matter  of  fact  it  does  so.  "For,"  says 
Coe,  "the  concrete  experience  out  of  which  we  abstract  the 
^states  of  consciousness'  (we  desire  to  study)  is  the  experi- 
ence of  being  a  personal  self.  Each  sensation,  feeling,  or 
other  'element'  of  structural  psychology  is  simply  a  par- 
ticular discriminable  aspect  of  a  self -realising  life."  ^° 
From  the  psychology  of  states  of  consciousness  it  is  in- 
evitable, therefore,  that  one  should  proceed  to  the  psychol- 
ogy of  persons,  of  the  personal  I. 

These  considerations  lead  Coe  to  a  manner  of  looking 
at  things  which  is  interesting  in  connection  with  our  present 
plan.  In  this  way  he  corrects  the  somewhat  narrow  out- 
look of  a  purely  scientific  psychology^'  that  is  concerned  and 
desires  to  be  concerned  only  with  the  structure  of  states 
of  consciousness.  He  regards  it  as  legitimate  also  to  con- 
sider states  of  mind  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  value 
they  possess  in  relation  to  society,  society  as  a  whole. 
This  point  of  view  enables  us  to  establish  distinctions  not 
only  between  this  and  that  state  of  mind  but  also  between 
person  and  person.  We  are  placed  in  a  position  to  compare 
and  evaluate  persons;  and  this  is  important  in  our  present 
inquiry. 

It  is  evident  that  this  point  of  view  adopted  by  Coe 
lays  itself  open  to  the  reproach  of  not  being  strictly  scien- 
tific, inasmuch  as  science  is  concerned  with  measures  and 
not  with  values.  But  to  this  objection  one  might  reply  that 
the  very  axioms  upon  which  science  rests  are  dictated  by 
considerations  of  value.  The  most  disinterested  science  is 
built  up,  in  the  last  analysis,  upon  an  interest;  for  in  order 
to  be  able  to  know  we  must  first  pose  hypotheses  that  will 
render  the  scientific  structure  possible:  atoms,  electrons,  etc. 

In  approaching  the  great  figure  who  is  to  form  the  sub- 

1°  Coe,  The  Psychology  of  Religion,  p.  19. 


METHOD  13 

ject  of  this  book  we  shall  first  meet  with  states  of  mind 
that  have  been  produced  in  a  very  special  environment, 
in  the  midst  of  a  people  with  very  strongly  marked  char- 
acteristics and  during  an  epoch  far  removed  from  our  own. 
We  must  study  their  structure  and  compare  them  with  other 
states  of  mind  that  are  nearer  to  our  own  and  better  known. 
But  we  shall  not  consider  ourselves  committed  to  an  ob- 
jectivity so  strict  as  to  prevent  us  from  taking  into  account 
the  fact  that  we  are  dealing  here  first  and  foremost  with 
a  person,  a  person  who  pursued  certain  aims  and  moved 
in  a  certain  direction,  and  that,  because  of  and  through 
the  intermediation  of  this  person,  new  currents,  new  psychic 
functions  have  come  into  being  in  the  world.  "Jesus,"  says 
Renan,  "had  neither  dogmas  nor  a  system;  he  had  a  fixed 
personal  resolution  which,  as  it  surpassed  in  intensity  every 
other  created  will,  directs  to  this  day  the  destinies  of  hu- 
manity." "  These  are  the  words  of  a  judge  who,  in  criti- 
cism, did  not  allow  himself  to  be  easily  checked.  Yet  they 
affirm  the  existence  in  Jesus  of  something,  a  personal  char- 
acter, a  jixed  personal  resolution,  which  bore  and  still  bears 
its  consequences  for  humanity. 

On  the  other  hand,  let  us  also  note  that  to  relate  it  with 
other  human  personalities  does  not  in  any  way  diminish 
the  specific  character  of  this  personality.  To  bring  com- 
parative psychology  to  bear  upon  Jesus,  to  relate  his  states 
of  consciousness,  his  feelings,  his  volitions,  his  impulsions, 
or  his  inhibitions  with  those  which  take  place  in  all  men, 
is  not  to  solve  the  whole  problem  of  his  origin  and  his 
essence.  The  latter  remains  exactly  as  it  was  before,  and 
for  the  following  reason. 

In  the  natural  order,  as  we  know,  the  same  physical  ele- 
ments, differently  grouped,  may  produce  absolutely  different 
results.     Rain,  snow,  hail,  ice  are  after  all  nothing  but 

11  Renan,  Vie  de  Jesus.     Paris,  Calmann-Levy,  p.  48. 


14  INTRODUCTION 

water.  And  yet,  in  concrete  reality,  how  these  things  differ 
one  from  another  in  their  effects,  in  their  utility,  in  the 
use  to  which  we  can  put  them!  When  we  decompose  them 
we  always  find  water;  but,  meanwhile,  the  rain  has  fer- 
tilised my  soil,  the  ice  has  stopped  the  decomposition  of 
my  food,  the  snow  has  killed  my  friend,  the  hail  has  devas- 
tated my  crops.  "It's  nothing  but  water,  just  the  same!" 
a  physicist  may  tell  me.  But  to  me,  an  ordinary  man,  this 
makes  no  difference;  it  does  not  interest  me;  it  does  not 
diminish  in  the  slightest  way  the  seriousness  of  the  effects 
that  have  been  produced. 

Let  us  mount  a  step  and  enter  psychology.  There  is  no 
reason  why  we  should  be  disturbed  if,  in  a  soul  which  we 
revere,  in  a  person  for  whom  we  entertain  the  greatest 
respect,  the  psychological  analysis  happens  to  reveal  to  us 
a  structure  of  psychic  elements  analogous  to  that  of  the 
simplest  of  mortals.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  there  appears, 
under  the  new  form  assumed  by  this  group  of  elements 
which  constitute  the  originality  of  this  personality,  an  im- 
ponderable something  which  is  also  a  force,  an  energy, 
though  of  the  spiritual  order.  From  the  psychological  point 
of  view  this  person  is  a  human  person  of  the  same  structure 
as  other  human  persons;  yet  that  which  precisely  distin- 
guishes him  from  others,  that  something  which  I  can  com- 
pare to  nothing  else  because  it  is  peculiar  to  him,  which  it 
is  impossible  to  analyse,  which  is  perceptible  only  to  the 
moral  sense,  is  enough  to  confer  upon  him  in  my  eyes  a 
value,  a  significance,  a  place  quite  apart  from  that  of  other 
human  beings.  The  secret  of  personality  is  always  a  divine 
secret;  one  never  succeeds  in  isolating  it  by  merely  scientific 
labour.  It  will  resist  the  most  subtle  analyses  because  it 
belongs  to  quite  another  order  of  things.  We  therefore  do 
it  no  injury  when  we  reduce  to  its  known  elements  the 
composition  of  a  human  psyche. 


METHOD  15 

To  sum  up  what  we  have  just  said  and  render  quite  clear 
the  methodological  line  that  Coe  has  traced,  let  us  formulate 
as  follows  the  investigation  that  we  are  about  to  undertake : 

1.  The  structural  point  of  view  will  lead  us  to  approach 
the  life  of  Jesus,  his  psychic  life,  his  states  of  consciousness, 
from  the  angle  of  their  resemblance  to  our  own.  In  this 
way  we  shall  see  in  what  respects  he  approximates  to  our- 
selves; we  shall  examine  the  functioning  of  his  mind,  his 
feelings,  the  hidden  logic  of  his  inner  development,  accord- 
ing to  the  laws  which  we  have  learned  by  our  previous 
observations.  In  this  way  Jesus  will  appear  to  us  chiefly 
under  the  aspect  which  he  shares  with  men,  with  all  men. 
We  shall  feel  him  living  with  the  fulness  of  humanity, 
thanks  to  the  numerous  points  of  resemblance  with  our  own 
which  his  psychology  presents. 

2.  The  junctional  point  of  view,  on  the  other  hand,  by 
directing  our  attention  to  the  particular  aims  which  the 
person  is  pursuing,  will  cause  us  to  observe  whatever  is 
original  in  this  person,  whatever  is  peculiar  to  him,  in  con- 
trast to  others.  In  the  place  of  a  static  or  comparative 
psychology,  we  shall  be  concerned  here  first  and  foremost 
with  a  dynamic  psychology.  We  shall  become  aware  of 
the  ends  towards  which  a  personality  such  as  that  of  Jesus 
moves,  and  in  consequence  we  shall  feel  more  sharply  what 
separates  him  from  others  and  less  sharply  what  he  has 
in  common  with  them. 

§  3.     PSYCHO-ANALYSIS 

The  principles  and  the  methods  of  the  psychology  of 
religion  ^^  have  rendered  us  an  immense  service  by  enlarging 

12  Cf.  Flournoy,  Th.,  Les  principes  de  la  psychologic  religieuse. 
Arch,  de  Psychol.,  II,  1902,  pp.  33-57- 

Faber,  Hermann,  Das  Wesen  der  Religionpsychologie  und  litre 
Bedetitung  fur  die  Dogmatik,  cine  prinzipieUe  Untersuchung  sur 
systematischen  Theologei.    Tubingen,  Mohr,  1913,  p.  164. 


i6  INTRODUCTION 

the  conceptions  that  we  have  held  of  religious  phenomena, 
their  character,  and  the  laws  under  which  they  evolve  in 
the  spiritual  life  of  man.  But  several  years  ago  the  great 
flood  of  observations  flung  by  an  early  enthusiasm  into 
the  field  of  religious  studies  began  to  diminish.  It  was 
clearly  seen  that  they  would  have  to  go  deeper  and  the 
investigators  were  already  attacking  the  subconscious  layers 
of  the  personality  without  being  able  to  penetrate  to  its 
secret.  They  were  asking  upon  what,  in  the  last  analysis, 
the  observed  phenomena  rested,  from  whence  they  sprang 
up  in  the  bosom  of  the  race.  I  am  not  speaking  here  of 
the  metaphysical  origins  of  religion  which,  by  definition, 
lie  outside  the  province  of  scientific  investigation,  but  of 
its  psychic  and  physiological  origins,  its  points  of  attach- 
ment to  the  known  being.  The  psychology  of  religion  was 
on  the  verge  of  being  swallowed  up  in  the  moving  sands  of 
statistics  or  special  cases,  when  there  suddenly  appeared  a 
new  movement  of  ideas,  a  new  method,  rich  in  unforeseen 
consequences,  which,  with  the  abundance  and  multiplicity 
of  the  works  to  which  it  gave  rise,  wrested  that  study 
from  the  lethargy  that  threatened  it.  I  am  speaking  of 
psycho-analysis. 

Psycho-analysis  or  psychanalysis  (the  analysis  of  the 
mind  or  rather  of  the  states  of  mind)  is  at  once  and  by 
turns  a  method  of  therapeutics  and  a  method  of  psycho- 
logical investigation.  Originated  and  given  its  first  impetus 
by  the  Viennese  doctor,  Sigmund  Freud,  it  has  developed 
in  a  few  years  to  an  extraordinary  extent  and  has  led  to 
the  production  of  substantial  works  and  several  reviews 
which  are  entirely  devoted  to  it.^^    Unfortunately,  most  of 

13  The  following  are  the  titles  of  these  reviews: 
Jahrbuch  filr  psychoanalytische  und  psychopathologische  Forschungen. 
Zentralblatt  fiir  Psychoanalyse. 
Imago. 

Zeitschrift  fur  Anzvendung  dcr  Psychoanalyse  auf  die  Geisteswissefi' 
schaften. 


METHOD  17 

these  contributions  to  the  study  of  psycho-analysis  are  in 
German." 

The  founder  of  psycho-analysis,  Sigmund  Freud,  is  a 
neurologist,  a  pupil  of  Charcot  of  La  Salpetriere,  as  was 
M.  Pierre  Janet.  Concerning  this  double  descent  from  the 
illustrious  French  doctor,  M.  F.  Morel  has  written,  "It 
does  not  seem  to  us  extreme  to  say  that  the  birthplace  of 
psycho-analysis  was  La  Salpetriere,  where  Freud  was 
staying  in  1885.  Afterwards  it  took  up  its  abode  in 
Vienna." '' 

*  It  was,  then,  while  he  was  studying  his  specialty,  hys- 
teria, and  subsequently  other  nervous  disorders,  that  Freud 
gradually  elaborated  the  new  method  to  which  he  has  given 
the  name  of  psycho-analysis.  The  cases  which  he  was  led 
to  treat  and  study  at  first  hand  struck  him  as  having  certain 
characteristics  in  common.  He  soon  found  himself  con- 
vinced that  the  physiological  and  psychic  disorders  which 
he  was  examining  in  his  patients  had  almost  always  a  purely 


Internationale  Zettschriff  fiir  arsfliche  Psychoanalyse. 

Schriften  ziir  angewandten  Seelenkunde. 

The  Psychoanalytic  Review. 

The  International  Journal  of  Psycho-analysis. 

14  Let  me  mention  in  French  the  volume  by  Drs.  Regis  and  Hesnard, 
La  Psychoanalyse  des  ncvroses.  et  dcs  psychoses,  ses  applications  medi- 
cales  et  extra-mcdicales.  Paris,  Alcan,  1914  (furnished  with  a  very 
full  bibliography)  : — an  article  by  M.  Emile  Lombard  m  the  Revue  de 
theologie  -ct  de  philosophie,  new  series,  II,  pp.  14-47,  entitles  Freud,  la 
psychanalyse  et  la  theorie  psychogenetique  des  ncvroses; — an  Essai  sur 
I'introversion  mystique  by  M.  Ferd.  Morel,  thesis  for  the  doctorate  in 
philosophy  presented  at  the  University  of  Geneva  (Kiindig,  Geneva, 
1918)  ; — the  lecture  by  Dr.  Maeder  ;  Guerison  et  evolution  dans  la  vie 
de  I'ame.  La  psychanalyse,  son  importance  dans  la  vie  contemporaine, 
Rascher,  Zurich,  igi8;  the  study  by  the  same  author  of  Le  pientre 
Hodler,  translated  into  French  by  M.  Lenoir; — Jung,  Contribution  a 
V etude  des  types  psychologiqv.es,  Arch,  de  Psychol.,  XIII,  1913,  p.  290; 
— Th.  Flournoy,  Une  mystique  moderne.  Ibid.  XV,  191 5,  pp.  1-224. — 
Henri  Flournoy,  Syinbolismes  en  psychopathologie  and  Quelqties 
rcmarques    sur    le    symbolisme    dans    I'hysterie,    Ibid.    XVII,    no.    67, 

15  Morel,  Ferd.,  Essai  sur  I'introversion  mystique;  etude  psycho- 
logiqne  de  Pseudo-Denys  I'Areopagite  et  de  quelques  autres  cas  de 
mysticisme.    Geneva,  Kiindig,  1918,  p.  7. 


i8  INTRODUCTION 

psychic  origin.  Thanks  to  his  handling  and  his  skill  in 
analysis  he  was  not  slow  in  discovering  that  often,  if  not 
always,  these  nervous  disorders  were  due  to  what  he  calls 
a  repression  (Verdrdngung).  Certain  desires,  certain  in- 
stinctive impulsions  had  been,  at  some  moment  in  his  life, 
repressed  by  the  patient.  He  had  been  ashamed  of  them, 
he  had  not  wished  to  acknowledge  them  to  himself  or  to 
confess  them  to  others;  he  had  shamefacedly  suppressed 
the  expression  of  them.  Or  rather  (for  this  phenomenon 
usually  takes  place  in  early  childhood),  his  parents,  his 
teachers,  the  world,  public  opinion  had  opposed  to  the  ex- 
ternal manifestation  of  these  natural  instincts  a  barrier,  a 
censor.  We  all  know  how  frequent  such  cases  are,  how 
many  instincts,  impulses,  natural  inclinations  are  repressed 
in  us  from  childhood  by  this  censorship  of  public  opinion, 
of  education,  which  constantly  checks  the  outbursts  of  hu- 
man nature. 

It  is  a  mistake,  however,  to  suppose  that  the  natural  in- 
stinct thus  arrested  by  external  barriers  ceases  for  that 
reason  to  operate.  On  the  contrary!  Repressed  as  it  may 
be,  even  banished  from  the  open  consciousness  of  the  indi- 
vidual, it  still  does  not  cease  to  manifest  itself,  to  make 
its  influence  felt.  But  since  the  force  of  its  outward  sally 
has  been  broken,  as  if  by  an  iron  wall,  it  falls  back  in 
the  other  direction;  it  rebounds  from  the  consciousness  into 
the  obscure  recesses  of  the  subconscious,  where  it  then  pro- 
duces a  sort  of  tension.  The  pressure  of  the  instinct  does 
not  cease;  but  not  being  able  to  express  itself  in  the  day- 
light because  of  the  different  censors  which  lie  in  wait  for 
it,  it  pushes  constantly  against  the  door  that  is  shut  against 
it,  strives  to  slip  out  through  the  cracks,  and  sometimes 
succeeds  by  means  of  a  disguise.  It  then  presents  itself 
under  the  form  of  a  frequently  repeated  gesture,  a  ridiculous 


METHOD  19 

or  meaningless  habit,  under  the  form  of  a  periodic  crisis; 
finally,  it  becomes  a  fomenter  of  disorders,  a  disease/' 

If  one  psycho-analyses  the  patient,  if  one  is  able,  that  is, 
by  means  of  certain  methods  such  as  confession,  to  redis- 
cover the  subconscious  impulses  of  which  he  is  himself  often 
ignorant  and  which  are  at  the  bottom  of  his  nervous  dis- 
order, he  can  be  cured,  gradually  or  quickly,  as  the  case 
may  be.  In  the  beginning  Freud  made  use  of  hynotism 
to  discover  the  secret  concealed  in  his  patients.  In  the 
end  he  gave  up  this  method,  and  it  is  now  usually  by  con- 
versation with  them  or  by  the  method  of  reactions  that  he 
discovers  the  knot  of  ideas,  impulses,  instincts  (or  what  he 
calls  the  complex)  which  is  at  the  bottom  of  their  illness." 

After  the  neuroses  Freud  took  up  the  study  of  dreams, 
and  here  again  he  discovered  the  strange  process  of  instinct 
which  he  had  discovered  in  the  neuroses.    From  his  authori- 

1^  Cf.  Freud,  Ueber  die  Berichtigung  von  der  Neurasthenie  einen 
bestimmten  Syynptomenkomplex  als  Angsineurose  abzutrcnnen.  Neurol. 
Zentralblatt,  1895,  No.  2. 

Id.,  Obsessions  et  phobies,  leur  mecanisme  psychique  et  leur  ctiologie. 
Revue,  neurol.  III.  1895. 

Id.,  Formnlierungen  iiber  die  zwei  Prinzipien  des  psychischen  Ge- 
schehens.  Jahrbuch  f.  psychoanal.  u.  psychopathol.  Forschungen  III, 
I,  191 1. 

Id.,  Drei  Abhandlungen  sur  Sexualthcorie.    Leipzig  and  Vienna,  1905. 

Id.,  Sammlung  kleiner  Schriftcn  sur  Neurosenlehr-e  aus  den  Jahren 
1893-1896.     Leipzig  and  Vienna,  Deuticke,  1906. 

Id.,  Zwangshandliingen  und  Religionsiibung.  Zeitschrift  fur  Re- 
ligionspsychol.     I,  pp.  4-12. 

1^  This  method  consists  in  pronouncing  before  the  patient  a  certain 
number  of  words,  chosen  from  all  fields,  to  which  he  must  reply  im- 
mediately with  the  word  which  comes  spontaneously  to  his  mind,  how- 
ever incongruous  or  unsuitable  this  word  may  appear  to  him  to  be. 
Meanwhile  the  psycho-analyst  has  his  chronometer  in  his  hand  and 
notes  exactly  the  time  that  elapses  between  the  word  which  he  utters 
and  that  which  he  receives  in  reply.  With  a  little  practice  and  skill  the 
psycho-analyst  is  very  soon  able  to  see  which  associations  of  ideas 
arouse  in  the  patient  painful  or  diflficult  reactions,  and  gradually,  by 
means  of  more  and  more  pointed  questions,  he  reconstructs  the  circum- 
stances in  the  life  of  the  patient  which  have  given  rise  to  his  neurosis. 
In  this  way  the  patient  reveals  to  the  psycho-analyst  a  part  of  his  sub- 
conscious life  of  the  value  and  meaning  of  which  he  has  himself  been 
ignorant. 


20  INTRODUCTION 

tative  study  on  this  subject,  Die  Traumdeutimg,^^  it  becomes 
evident  that  the  dream,  every  sort  of  dream,  is  nothing 
but  a  disguise  of  the  desires  and  thoughts  which  have  been 
driven  back  by  the  censor  into  the  subconscious,  and  which, 
not  being  able  to  express  themselves  as  long  as  the  will 
of  the  individual  is  in  the  awakened  state,  come  forth  as 
soon  as  this  will  is  asleep,  and  thus  relieve  the  individual 
from  the  state  of  abnormal  tension  in  which  he  finds  him- 
self. 

The  theory  which  Freud  has  drawn  from  his  medical  and 
psychological  observations  may  then,  in  its  large  outlines, 
be  summed  up  somewhat  as  follows: 

1.  At  the  base  of  human  life  there  is  a  powerful  force 
of  energy,  an  elan  vital,  which  he  calls  the  libido.  It  must 
be  confessed  that  Freud  attributes  to  this  libido  a  character 
that  is  strictly  passional  and  even  sexual,  as  its  name  indi- 
cates. He  lays  great  emphasis  on  this  side  of  things,  while 
other  psycho-analysts,  particularly  those  of  the  school  of 
Zurich,^^  tend  to  mitigate  its  earthiness  and  grossness. 
Taking  both  tendencies  into  consideration,  we  may  say  that 
at  the  base,  at  the  source  of  our  life  there  is  a  formidable 
instinctive  urge,  a  copious  stream  of  natural  instincts  and 
desires  that  are  peculiarly  related  to  the  flesh. 

2.  This  urge  of  the  libido  flings  itself  against  what  Freud 
calls  the  censor,  that  is,  against  the  whole  group  of  the 
moral  and  social  rules  which  progress  has  heaped  up  about 
the  modern  human  being.    We  are  not  able,  and  perhaps 

18  Leipzig  and  Vienna,  Deuticke,  1911. 

13  Cf.,  Bleuler,  E.,  Die  Psychanalyse  Freuds:  Verteidigung  und 
Kritische  Bemerkungcn.     Leipzig,  Deuticke,  191 1. 

Jung,  C.  G.,  Wandlungen  und  Symbole  der  Libido,  Beitrdge  fiir  Ent- 
•wicklungsgeschicht-c  des  Denkens.     Ibid.,  1912. 

Id.,  Versuch  einer  Darstcllung  der  psychoanalytischen  Thcorie,  neim 
Vorlesungen  gehaUen  in  Nezv  York  im  Sept.,  1912.  Jahrb.  f.  psychoanal. 
und  psychopath.     Forsch.,  V,  1913. 

Keller,  Ad.,  art.  Psclwanalyse  in  the  encyclopaedia  Religion  in 
Geschichte  und  Gegenwart,  Bd.  IV,  Tiibingen,  1913. 


METHOD  21 

humanity  itself,  since  it  became  humanity,  has  ne\fer  been 
able  to  satisfy  fully  and  without  restraint  the  rush  of  our 
primitive  natural  instincts.  Hence  we  have  here  a  natural 
force  at  full  strength  which  finds  itself  stopped  by  an  im- 
passable barrier.  The  moral  conscience,  society,  education 
all  intervene  together  to  oppose  it. 

3.  The  instincts  are  therefore  repressed.  As  they  are 
forbidden  to  express  themselves  in  the  broad  daylight  of  a 
consciousness  that  is  fully  aware  of  itself,  they  fling  them- 
selves against  the  walls,  striving  to  get  through.  Here  the 
danger  begins.  If  the  censorship  is  inexorably  maintained 
— and  it  always  is — the  instincts  resort  to  dissimulation 
and  seek  to  make  their  way  out  by  means  of  a  disguise. 
They  bring  about  a  derangement  of  the  personality,  a  mal- 
ady which  has  all  the  characteristics  of  a  mental  disease; 
they  ravage  the  human  being,  wasting  him  and  injuring  him. 
At  least,  unless  the  cure  intervenes. 

4.  At  this  point  appears  a  new  aspect  of  Freud's  theory, 
of  which  we  have  not  yet  spoken:  the  sublimation  of  the 
instincts.'^  When  one  has  discovered  the  force  that  has 
caused  these  ravages  in  the  individual,  the  repressed  instinct 
that  has  been  clamouring  to  express  itself,  the  problem  is 
to  find  an  outlet  for  it.  But,  as  there  is  no  question  of 
giving  it  outlet  in  its  existing  form,  it  has  to  be  transformed; 
in  place  of  the  disorderly  disguises  which  it  has  adopted  it 
must  be  furnished  with  the  possibility  of  an  education,  that 
is  to  say  a  transformation  which  elevates  it.  This  is  what 
Freud  calls  sublimation.  The  instinctive  vital  urge  must, 
without  ceasing  to  be  a  force  of  life,  raise  itself  to  a  higher 
level,  so  that  the  purely  natural  instincts  may  become,  as 
it  were,  supernatural.     Here  lies  the  true  logical   issue. 


20  On  sublimation  see :  Pfister,  Die  psychanalytische  Methode  (under 
Stihlimierung.  in  the  index)  ;  Silberkr,  Prohleme  dcr  Mystik.  Vienna 
and  Leipzig,  Heller,  1914,  pp.  104,  163-171,  192,  etc. 


22  INTRODUCTION 

Instead  of  being  repressed,  our  deep  natural  instincts  must 
be  ennobled,  lifted  to  the  sublime,  in  order  that  the  egoisti- 
cal, brutal  passion  may  be  changed  gradually  into  a  love 
for  others,  and  the  bestial,  repellent  love  transmuted  into 
love  for  one's  neighbour,  into  religious  love. 

Occasionally  this  sublimation  takes  place,  in  one  way  or 
another,  of  itself,  without  any  violent  shocks  and  in  the 
mere  play  of  life.  It  sometimes  happens  that  in  very  pure 
natures  the  instincts,  without  losing  their  energy,  naturally 
elevate  themselves  and  are  metamorphosed  into  moral 
powers.  But  as  a  rule  it  is  only  under  the  influence  of 
powerful  convictions  and  with  the  aid  of  unexpected  forces 
that  the  sublimation  occurs.  Cases  of  sudden  conversion 
are  examples  of  crises,  tumultuous  by  nature,  in  the  midst 
of  which  this  phenomenon  takes  place. 

It  hardly  needs  to  be  said  that  the  brief  sketch  which 
we  have  just  given  of  psycho-analysis  does  not  exhaust  the 
subject.  In  its  roughness  of  outline  it  even  distorts  it  in 
certain  respects;  it  overlooks  the  finer  distinctions;  more- 
over, it  leaves  in  the  shadow  a  number  of  important  points 
which  we  shall  have  occasion  to  mention  in  the  course  of 
this  work.^^  Immediately  following  Freud,  a  host  of 
psychologists  have  taken  up  his  work  and  his  principles 
and  extended  or  modified  on  certain  sides  their  application 
and  consequences.  From  this  have  resulted  a  series  of 
books,  bearing  on  the  most  varied  subjects,  on  myths,  magic, 
religion,  art,  literature,  dreams,  lapsus  linguce,  or  calami, 
neuroses,  forgetfulness,  tics,  etc.,  etc.  These  works  consti- 
tute to-day  a  very  important  library  which  one  ought  to 
run  through,  pen  in  hand,  and  which  bears  witness  to  the 
treasures  of  observation  which  this  new  point  of  view  has 


21  For  example,  the  whole  question  of  the  family-complex  and  its 
role  in  the  formation  of  myths  (see  pp.  109  et  seqq.)  and  that  of  intro- 
version (pp.  165  et  seqq.). 


METHOD  23 

brought  to  light  in  all  branches  of  human  knowledge. " 
Perhaps  we  have  said  enough  to  indicate  the  movement, 
the  scale  of  the  psycho-analytic  method,  its  manner  of  look- 
ing at  life.  It  reveals  to  us  in  the  deeply  buried  primitive 
instincts  of  the  human  animal  a  force  which  may  devastate 
life  unless,  thanks  to  a  magnificent  sublimation,  it  serves 
to  lead  man  to  a  path  that  is  above  nature.  Now,  could 
we  not  express  in  almost  the  same  terms  the  essential  con- 
ception that  religion,  and  especially  Christianity,  holds  in 
regard  to  human  life?  Instinct,  the  libido,  the  primitive, 
vital  urge  seems  to  exist  solely  to  raise  man  up  to  the  love 
of  his  neighbour  in  the  largest  and  noblest  sense,  and  if 
this  sublimation  fails  to  take  place,  disease,  neuroses,  mad- 

22  "We  shall  mention  here  at  least  a  few  of  these  works  which  are 
among  the  most  important  or  those  of  which  we  have  made  most  use : 

Freud,  Zur  Psychopathologie  des  Alltagslebcns  (iiber  Vergessen, 
Versprechen,  Vergreifen,  Aberglaube  und  Irrtum).  Berlin,  Karger,  4 
ed.,  1912. 

Id.,  Totem  und  Tabu.  Einige  Uebereinstiinmungen  ini  Seelenleben 
der  IVilden  und  der  Neurotiker.     Leipzig  and  Vienna,  Heller,  1913. 

Id.,  Der  Witc  und  seine  Beziehung  sum  Unbewussten.  Leipzig  and 
Vienna,  Deuticke,  1912. 

Rank,  O.,  Der  Mythus  von  der  Geburt  des  Helden.  Versuch  etner 
psychologischen  Mythenbedcutung.  Schriften  zur  angewandten  Seelen- 
kunde,  Heft  5,  Vienna,  1912. 

Id.,  Das  Inccst-Motiv  in  Dichtung  und  Sage.    Leipzig,  Deuticke,  1912. 

Id.,  Psychoanalytische  Beitrdge  zur  M ythenf orschung .  Leipzig.  In- 
ternat.  psychoan.  Verlag,  1918. 

Jung,  C.  G.,  IVandlungcn  und  Symbole  der  Libido.  Beitrdge  sur 
EntwicklungsgeschicJite  des  Denkens.     Leipzig,  Deuticke,  1912. 

Id.,  Versuch  einer  Darstellung  der  psychoanalytischen  Theorie.  Ibid., 
1913. 

Id.,  Die  Bedeutung  des  Voters  filr  das  Schicksal  des  Einzelnen. 
Jahrbuch  f.  psychoan.  u.  psychopathol.     Forschungen,  I,  1909. 

Id.,  Die  Psychologie  der  unbewussten  Prozesse.  Ein  Ueberblick  iiber 
die  moderne  Theorie  und  Methode  der  analytischen  Psychologie. 
Zurich,  Rascher,   1917. 

Pfister,  O.,  Die  psychanalytische  Meihod-e.  Leipzig,  Klinkhardt, 
1913. 

Id.,  Ein  neuer  Zugang  sum  alten  Evangelium.  Mitteilungen  iiber 
analytische  Seelsorge  an  Nervosen,  Gemi'itsleidend-en  und  anderen 
seelisch  Gebundenen.     Giitersloh,  Bertelsmann,  1918. 

Id.,  Die  Frommigkeit  des  Grafen  Ludwig  von  Zinsendorf.  Leipzig 
and  Vienna,  Deuticke,  1910. 

Id.,  Was  beitet  die  Psychanalyse  dem  Erzieher?  Leipzig,  Klinkhardt, 
1917. 


24  INTRODUCTION 

ness,  in  a  word  perdition,  are  at  the  door.  It  is  a  curious 
thing  that  we  are  led  back  by  the  study  of  psycho-analysis 
to  the  very  terms  of  which  Christianity  avails  itself  in  order 
to  express  the  fundamental  opposition  in  which  human  life 
struggles:  salvation  and  perdition. 

Since  the  individual  human  life  presents  itself  as  an  urge 
of  animal  instincts,  it  flings  itself,  whether  it  desires  to 
do  so  or  not,  against  the  censorship  that  has  resulted  from 
the  progress  of  this  same  human  life  in  its  social  form,  and 
which  sets  up  against  it  a  solid  wall.  This  is  the  old  antith- 
esis, the  contradiction  which  has  been  recognised  always 
and  everywhere,  which  in  antiquity  was  described  as  fatum, 
destiny,  and  which  Christians  call  sin.  It  is  the  same 
psychic  movement  always,  regarded  merely  from  different 
angles.    On  one  side,  the  elan  vital,  liberty  without  restraint, 

Id.,  Wahrheit  und  Schonheit  in  der  Psychanalyse.  Zurich,  Rascher, 
1918. 

SiLBERER,  H.,  Probleme  der  Mystik  und  Hirer  Symbolik.  Vienna  and 
Leipzig,  Heller,  1914. 

Id.,  Durch  Tod  zuni  Leben.  Eine  kurse  Untersuchung  Uber  die 
entwicklungsgeschichtliche  Bedeutung  des  Syrnbols  der  Wiedergeburt  in 
seinen  Urformen,  mit  besonderer  Bcrilcksichtigung  der  modernen 
Theosophie.     Leipzig,  Heims,  191 5. 

Bleuler,  E.,  Die  Psychanalyse  Freiids.  Verteidigung  und  kritische 
Bevierkungen.  Leipzig,  Deuticke,  1911. 

Id.,  Das  autistische  Denken.  Jahrbuch  f.  psychoan.  u.  psychopath. 
Forschungen,  IV. 

RicKLiN,  Fr.,  WunscherfUllung  und  Symbolik  im  Mdrchen,  eine 
Studie.     Schriften  z.  angewandten  Seelenkunde,  Heft  II. 

Jones,  Ernest,  Das  Problem  des  Hamlet  und  der  Oedipus-Komplex. 
Ibid.,  Heft  X. 

Abraham,  Traum  und  Mythus.  Eine  Studie  sur  V biker psychologie. 
Ibid.,  Heft  IV. 

Adler,  Alf.,  Ueber  den  nervosen  Charakter,  Grundzilge  einer  ver- 
gkichenden  Individualpsychologie  und  Psychotherapie.  Weisbaden, 
Bergmann,  1912. 

Reik,  Th.,  Probleme  der  Religionspsychologie.  Leipzig,  Int. 
psychoan.  Verlag,  1918. 

Flugel,  J.  C,  The  Psycho-analytic  Study  of  the  Family.  The  In- 
ternat.  Psycho-anal.  Press.     London,  Vienna,  New  York,  1921,  pp.  259. 

Baudouin,  Etudes  de  Psychanalyse.  Neuchatel  and  Paris :  Dela- 
chaux  et  Niestle,  1922,  pp.  288. 

For  further  details,  consult  G.  Berguer,  Psychologie  religieuse,  revue 
et  bibliographie  generates,  Geneva,  Kundig,  1914,  in  which  works  is- 
sued prior  to  1914  are  listed. 


METHOD  25 

the  right  to  liberty  and  to  a  complete  development;  on  the 
other,  arrest,  inhibition,  incomprehensible  darkness,  a  misery 
that  has  no  right  to  exist  but  which  does  exist  nevertheless, 
and  powerfully. 

If  the  individual  tries  to  cross  the  wall,  to  give  free  rein 
to  his  nature  as  it  is,  he  falls  back  into  animality  and  cuts 
himself  off  from  the  communion  of  his  fellows.  If  he  is 
content  to  submit  passively  to  the  arrest,  his  suppressed 
instincts  torment  him  and  throw  him  into  confusion.  Only 
one  issue  remains:  that  of  the  sublimation  of  the  instincts. 
And  this  issue  is  singularly  analogous  to  that  proposed  by 
Christianity.  For  is  it  anything  else  than  a  new  birth? 
Does  it  aspire  to  be  anything  else  than  a  regeneration,  that 
is  to  say  a  new  fecundation  of  the  being  carried  out  on  the 
plane  of  a  higher  life? 

It  is  true  that  the  psycho-analysts  do  not,  as  a  general 
thing,  insist  upon  the  analogies  which  we  are  raising  here. 
Their  interest  is  different  and  their  thoughts  are  oriented 
in  another  direction.  But  this  encounter  between  the  mod- 
ern analysis  of  the  deepest  life  of  the  soul  and  the  affirma- 
tions of  Christian  piety  touching  the  only  possible  method 
of  salvation  is  calculated,  we  must  confess,  to  stir  any  one 
who  has  found  in  Christ  the  secret  of  life. 
'  For  the  rest,  the  psycho-analytic  method  does  not  inter- 
est us  merely  because  it  conceives  of  the  progress  of  life 
in  a  manner  analogous  to  that  of  Christianity.  It  has  also 
opened  to  us  unlimited  perspectives  into  the  role  played  by 
the  unconscious  in  the  life  of  the  feelings,  into  the  pri- 
mordial importance  of  the  affective  subconscious  life  and 
its  action  upon  all  the  rest  of  existence.  It  teaches  us  to 
relate  the  humblest  beginnings  to  the  loftiest  results  and 
to  find  a  continuity  where  formerly  one  could  only  see 
oppositions.  The  associations  of  primitive  ideas  and  the 
play  of  the  feelings  in  the  subconscious  life  of  the  child, 


26  INTRODUCTION 

the  complexes  which  it  has  discovered  and  established  as 
existing  at  the  outset  of  every  mental  life  will  aid  us  par- 
ticularly in  solving  problems  of  religious  psychology  which, 
without  it,  would  have  remained  enveloped  in  the  deepest 
obscurity.  By  the  light  of  psycho-analysis  the  psychic  roots 
of  the  religious  life  are  revealed,  and  the  numerous  points 
of  comparison  help  us,  without  destroying  its  secret,  to  a 
better  comprehension  of  this  mystery  of  the  supernature 
of  the  spirit  which  has  engrafted  itself  upon  the  nature  of 
the  flesh.  The  problem  of  Christ  thus  comes  into  close  re- 
lationship with  the  problem  of  human  life,  and  the  mag- 
nificent unity  of  the  two  stands  out  in  dazzling  relief.  We 
shall  seek  to  render  this  perceptible  at  every  possible  oppor- 
tunity. 


CHAPTER  II 

CHRISTIANITY  AND  THE 
MYSTERY-RELIGIONS 

The  introduction  to  the  life  of  Jesus  brings  up  a  number 
of  problems.  Chief  among  these  are  the  problems  raised 
by  an  examination  of  the  documents  in  which  that  life  has 
been  recorded  and  the  condition  in  which  they  have  come 
down  to  us.  In  order  to  write  a  life  of  Jesus  we  must  then, 
first  of  all,  take  some  note  of  biblical  criticism  and  the 
criticism  of  the  text  of  the  gospels  and  the  epistles. 

We  have  not  done  everything  when  we  have  established 
the  validity  of  the  documents  that  have  come  down  to  us 
from  the  first  Christian  generations.  As  we  take  up  this 
work  itself  we  perceive  at  once  that  many  other  questions 
are  bound  up  with  it  and  related  to  it  in  different  degrees. 
We  observe,  for  example,  that  the  men  who  laboured  to 
assemble  the  evidence  on  the  life  of  Jesus,  as  well  as  those 
tor  whom  the  redaction  was  done,  lived  in  a  certain  en- 
vironment and  at  a  certain  period  which  present  very  special 
and  very  clearly  marked  characteristics.  The  Greco-Roman 
environment  of  the  first  years  of  our  era  was  the  expression 
and  the  result  of  a  highly  developed  culture.  Now  minds 
living  at  such  a  moment  and  in  the  midst  of  such  a  culture 
were  not  a  tabula  rasa.  They  could  not,  without  precon- 
ceived ideas,  accept  the  new  religion,  the  Christianity  that 
presented  itself  to  them;  nor  could  they,  in  receiving  it, 
make  a  clean  sweep  of  everything  which  the  floating  ideas, 
the  education,  the  manner  of  thinking  of  their  century 
had  already  deposited  in  them. 

27 


28  INTRODUCTION 

For  this  reason,  no  matter  how  authentic  and  sincere 
may  be  the  documents  that  purport  to  describe  for  us  the 
Hfe  of  Jesus,  they  nevertheless  reflect  this  great  figure  from 
a  certain  angle  and  consider  it  under  a  light  which  is  that 
of  their  own  age.  The  forms  of  speech,  for  example,  of 
which  Saint  Paul  makes  use,  are  not  always  new  forms. 
They  had  often  been  used  in  other  religions  than  Chris- 
tianity, and  they  had  acquired  from  them  a  certain  mean- 
ing, had  become  charged  with  a  signification  of  which  we 
cannot  easily  perceive  the  bearing  without  studying  these 
religions  themselves. 

Every  one,  in  order  to  express  his  own  most  original 
convictions,  makes  use  of  concepts  in  which  the  state  of 
mind  of  his  epoch  and  his  environment  is  reflected.  This 
is  true  at  all  times,  but  the  Greco-Roman  environment  of 
this  epoch  presented  a  character  that  has  perhaps  never 
been  reproduced,  particularly  in  the  domain  of  religion. 
The  extent  of  the  empire,  its  successive  conquests,  had 
brought  it  into  contact  with  very  diverse  civilisations. 
Owing  to  the  constant  changes  of  position  of  the  armies, 
to  the  trade  in  slaves,  who  were  carried  from  one  country 
to  another,  a  prodigiously  rapid  circulation  of  ideas  had  been 
established  between  the  different  parts  of  this  multiple  and 
diverse  world.  The  Roman  tolerance  had  favoured  this 
mixture,  this  vast  syncretism  of  religious  ideas.  All  the 
races  rubbed  elbows;  all  the  cults  were  brought  into  com- 
munication and  borrowed  from  one  another,  sometimes 
melting  into  one  another,  sometimes  fusing  their  rites  and" 
their  practices.  Amid  so  many  divergences  in  details  peo- 
ple became  aware,  little  by  little,  of  the  points  they  had 
in  common.  Certain  lines  appeared  to  be  better  marked 
than  others  in  the  general  design  of  religious  thought.  The 
human  soul  began  to  feel,  if  not  always  to  understand  or 
to  grasp,  its  identity. 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  MYSTERY-RELIGIONS       29 

This  seething  mass  of  thought,  in  which  so  many  different 
currents  came  to  mingle  in  a  certain  unity,  has  received  a 
name.  It  is  Hellenistic  thought,  and  this  is  the  Hellenistic 
period.  In  it  there  are  so  many  things,  so  many  elements, 
so  many  questions,  such  a  throbbing  life  and  such  an  ex- 
traordinary admixture  of  good  and  evil,  power  and  weak- 
ness, imposture  and  sincerity,  that  the  authors  who  have 
dealt  with  it  have  rarely  succeeded  in  determining  the  pre- 
cise limits  of  what  is  meant  by  the  Hellenistic  world  and 
Hellenistic  thought.  The  boundaries  of  this  world  and  this 
thought  remain  cloudy  and  uncertain  as  regards  both  time 
and  space.^  But  we  can  at  least  affirm  that  it  was  in  this 
world  and  at  the  end  of  this  epoch  that  Christianity  made 
its  appearance  in  the  empire  and  commenced  its  victorious 
march  before  which  all  the  other  religions  were  soon  to 
grow  pale  and  fade  away. 

It  will  therefore  be  eminently  useful  to  any  one  who 
wishes  to  grasp  Christianity  through  the  utterances  and 
the  mentality  of  disciples  who  lived  in  this  period  to  study 
the  religious  thought  of  the  day  and  to  see  by  means  of 
what  concepts  and  under  what  symbols  religious-minded 
people  of  that  time  grasped  religious  matters,  involuntarily, 
almost  without  knowing  it,  unconsciously. 

Let  me  make  myself  clear.  I  do  not  mean  to  imply  that 
a  Saint  Paul  or  a  Saint  John  altered  the  figure  of  Christ 
under  the  influence  of  ideas  which  came  from  without. 
What  I  mean  is  merely  that  they  saw  with  their  own  eyes, 
or  rather  with  their  souls,  and  that  their  souls  lived  in  the 
Greco-Roman  world  of  the  first  centuries  and  under  the 
influence  of  its  culture.  There  are,  for  example,  terms 
employed  by  Saint  Paul  which  we  should  be  mistaken  in 

1  By  the  "Hellenistic  period"  we  generally  understand  that  which  ex- 
tends from  300  to  100  B.C.,  from  Alexander  the  Great  to  the  time  of 
the  expansion  of  the  empire  towards  the  West.  But  its  consequences 
were  prolonged-  far  beyond  this. 


30  INTRODUCTION 

regarding  as  invented  by  him  or  selected  by  chance  from 
the  miscellaneous  baggage  of  the  vulgar  tongue.  These 
expressions  only  assume  their  real  value  and  their  true 
sense  when  we  know  what  they  signify  in  the  contemporary 
religions.  And  this  must  be  affirmed  not  of  expressions 
only  but  also  of  certain  notions  and  certain  groups  of  no- 
tions, certain  associations  of  ideas  which  at  that  time  were 
current  in  the  religious  world  and  were  familiar  to  him, 
such  as  death  and  regeneration  or  re-birth,  the  idea  of 
salvation  or  Goorrjpia,  etc.  It  remains  entirely  possible 
that  these  notions  and  these  expressions  may  have  been 
transformed  in  passing  out  of  paganism  into  Christianity, 
that  the  Christians  themselves  may  have  given  to  them  in 
using  them  a  more  profound  and  more  spiritual  meaning. 
But  it  is  no  less  true  that  they  were  current  and  that  thtir 
use  gave  rise  to  rapprochements  that  we  should  do  wrong 
not  to  take  into  account. 

The  study  of  the  ideas,  the  feelings,  the  impulsions  which 
were  current  in  the  pagan  world  at  the  moment  when  the 
good  news,  the  gospel  of  Christ  appeared,  is  thus  one  of 
the  necessary  elements  of  an  introduction  to  the  life  of 
Jesus.  We  must  know  what  were  the  preponderant  religious 
needs,  how  people  satisfied  them,  or  how  they  attempted 
to  satisfy  them;  consequently,  we  must  study  the  principal 
characteristics  of  this  vast  syncretism  of  ideas,  rites,  cults, 
and  initiations  which  constitute  the  Hellenistic  world. 
From  the  religious  point  of  view,  the  broad  general  lines 
of  this  subject  may  be  indicated  as  follows: 

I.  First,  a  sort  of  awakening  of  religious  thought  under 
the  influence  of  Stoicism,  but  a  Stoicism  of  a  quite  special 
kind  of  which  Posidonius  remains  the  typical  representative, 
a  Stoicism  mixed  with  Chaldeo-Babylonian  mysticism  and 
from  which  Philo  perhaps  derived  most  of  his  mystical 
ideas.    We  find  echoes  of  this  religious  and  mystical  philos- 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  MYSTERY-RELIGIONS       31 

ophy  in  the  writings  of  Cicero  and  Seneca,  and  they  are 
expressed  in  their  popular  form  in  the  pseudo-Aristotelian 
treatise  rcepi  Koffjxov,  which  dates  from  the  second  cen- 
tury A.D. 

2.  Side  by  side  with  this  movement  of  philosophic 
thought  we  must  mention  Orphism,  the  obscure  origins  of 
which  go  back  perhaps  to  the  seventh  or  the  sixth  cen- 
tury B.C.,  and  which  strongly  influenced  Pythagoras.  This 
also  may  have  contained  Oriental  elements  (probably  Baby- 
Ionian);  it  had  a  certain  influence  on  the  cult  of  Dionysus 
and  it  is  the  foundation  of  the  vast  Gnostic  movement.  It 
also  influenced  the  religious  ideas  and  especially  the  escha- 
tology  of  Plato,  Empedocles,  and  Pindar.  The  Stoics  re- 
garded the  Orphic  books  as  a  revelation;  and  for  the  Neo- 
Platonists  they  were,  or  they  became,  the  essential  books 
from  which  the  latter  derived  their  principal  doctrines. 

3.  Gnosticism,  that  strange  and  powerful  current  of  mys- 
tical thought  which  later  became  a  danger  to  the  orthodox 
faith,  or  was  at  least  regarded  by  the  faith  as  dangerous; 
against  which  we  see  Saint  Paul  already  taking  his  stand, 
while  other  doctors  of  the  later  Church  are  to  borrow 
silently  but  profitably  from  it. 

4.  Finally,  alongside  of  these  great  waves  of  religious 
thought  which  we  can  mention  here  only  too  briefly,  we 
must  include  as  of  the  first  importance  the  Mystery-Re- 
ligions which  arrived  from  the  Orient  or  from  Greece  at 
about  the  same  epoch  as  Christianity,  though  some  arrived 
before  it,  and  which  mysteriously  stirred  many  a  soul  that 
was  in  quest  of  salvation  or  afflicted  by  life. 

It  would  be  pertinent  to  linger  particularly  over  the 
description  of  these  religions,  inasmuch  as  they  sum  up 
and  condense  in  their  ceremonies,  their  rites,  their  symbols, 
and  their  myths  the  essential  tendencies  of  the  soul  of  that 
period.    They  reveal  to  us  its  more  or  less  conscious  needs, 


32  INTRODUCTION 

its  secret  aspirations,  its  latent  desires;  they  mark  an  ex- 
tremely interesting  stage  of  the  human  conscience. 

Unfortunately,  such  a  study  would  occupy  a  dispropor- 
tionate place  in  a  simple  introduction.  Since,  on  the  other 
hand,  their  elements  can  be  found  in  special  works,  we 
shall  concern  ourselves  here  simply  with  the  psychological 
questions  which  the  Mystery-Religions  present. 

We  shall  ask  first,  what  is  the  essential  characteristic 
of  the  psychological  movement,  the  psychic  process  that 
is  displayed  in  this  rich  efflorescence  of  rites  and  ceremonies, 
this  creation  or  transfigured  resurrection  of  gods  and  god- 
desses which  bears  the  name  of  the  Mystery-Cults.  From 
the  psychological  point  of  view,  how  can  we  explain  such 
a  birth  or  such  a  rebirth  of  old  religions  under  an  entirely 
new  form,  together  with  the  enthusiasm  of  the  peoples  of 
the  Roman  Empire  for  these  new  rites:  lustrations,  bap- 
tisms of  blood,  hierogamies,  and  mysterious  initiations? 
Whence  has  it  all  come  and  whither  is  it  all  going?  Are 
we  to  see  in  this  exuberant  symbolism  nothing  but  the  in- 
toxication of  consciences  in  delirium?  Does  some  profound 
revelation  perhaps  lurk  behind  the  often  sensual  frenzy 
of  the  mystical  ecstasy  that  excites  the  initiates?  Towards 
what  does  it  carry  us,  what  heights,  what  abysses?  Are 
the  Fathers  of  the  Church  right  in  severely  condemning 
these  orgiastic  cults?  Have  they  really  nothing  to  say  to 
us?  And  would  it  be  too  daring  to  suggest  that  there  is 
something  in  common  between  the  souls  who  flung  them- 
selves into  these  cults  and  those  who,  at  about  the  same 
period,  and  driven,  as  it  appears,  by  similar  needs,  hail  in 
Christ  the  Saviour  of  the  world  and  the  Master  to  whom 
they  have  aspired  unawares? 

How  many  questions!  It  would  be  impossible  for  us  to 
answer  them  all  in  succession.  But  perhaps  we  shall  an- 
swer them  all  at  once  if  we  simply  define  the  psychic  nature 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  MYSTERY-RELIGIONS       33 

of  the  mental  process  that  created  and  developed  these 
Mystery-Religions. 


g  I.     PARALLELISM   OF   THE   PSYCHIC   PRODROMES   OF   CHRIS- 
TIANITY AND  THE  MYSTERY-RELIGIONS 

One  of  the  best  means  of  investigation  open  to  the 
psychologist  who  finds  himself  faced  with  the  task  of  de- 
scribing a  spiritual  movement  is  comparison.  He  runs 
through  the  pages  of  history  in  order  to  discover  in  other 
epochs  and  in  other  circumstances  those  psychic  adventures 
of  which  at  least  some  of  the  conditions  suggest  those  of 
the  movement  he  is  particularly  engaged  in  studying.  And 
here  it  is  not  so  much  the  similarity  in  external  conditions 
or  visible  characteristics  that  matters,  but  rather  the  anal- 
ogy of  the  inner  processes  and  the  mental  currents  that 
sweep  minds  along.  Beneath  the  variety  and  the  frequently 
glaring  contrast  in  respect  of  characteristics,  ends  con- 
sciously followed  and  consequences,  he  must  seek  to  dis- 
cern the  sub-conscious  design,  the  underlying  curve  of  the 
tendencies  and  impulsions,  the  slow  germination  of  deep 
instincts  that  follow  similar  paths  and  point  towards  an 
identical  goal  which  only  reveals  itself  later. 

Now  there  is  a  movement  better  known  than  the  Mystery- 
Religions  that  approaches,  in  its  psychological  finality,  the 
great  effervescence  of  emotion,  sentiments,  and  desires  that 
courses  through  these  religions;  and  this  is  the  Israelitish 
prophecy  of  the  seventh  and  eighth  centuries  B.C. 

My  readers  will  no  doubt  protest;  but  patience!  Beneath 
the  apparent  contrasts  which,  at  first,  make  us  smile  at 
the  idea  of  any  such  resemblance,  let  us  try  to  penetrate 
to  the  depths  of  souls  who,  everywhere  and  at  all  times 
in  history,  have  been  tormented  by  the  same  desires  and 
driven  by  identical  instincts.     There  is  certainly  a  resem- 


34  INTRODUCTION 

blance  between  these  two  movements  and  I  shall  endeavour 
to  make  it  apparent. 

First,  there  is  an  analogy  between  the  periods  in  which 
they  both  came  to  birth;  then  there  is  an  analogy  between 
the  aspirations  and  the  religious  desires  to  which,  in  the  one 
case  as  in  the  other,  historical  and  national  circumstances 
gave  rise.  Both  were  periods  of  national  decadence.  At 
the  time  when  the  great  prophets  were  living  among  the 
Hebrews,  the  apogee  of  the  national  life  had  been  long  since 
attained.  The  Asiatic  menace  was  becoming  more  pressing 
year  by  year;  the  patriotic  spirit  was  diminishing;  luxury 
and  display  but  thinly  veiled  the  decay  of  morals  and  the 
general  laxness  of  the  people.  We  can  understand  how 
great  patriots  like  the  prophets,  rising  up  here  and  there, 
should  have  been  almost  forced  to  return  into  themselves 
to  rediscover,  in  the  retreats  of  the  inner  life  and  personal 
piety,  those  energies  which  they  sought  in  vain  about  them. 
The  national  decadence  thus  gave  rise,  among  the  best  men, 
to  a  violent  movement  of  introversion.^  But  the  energies 
of  the  libido,  discovered  anew  in  their  own  consciousness 
by  the  prophets  and  liberated,  prepared  the  way  for  a  new 
ideal  of  life.    And  it  was  then  that  the  figure  of  the  Messiah 

2  Consult,  in  connection  with  introversion  and  the  sense  of  this  word 
in  psycho-analytical  language,  the  works  of  the  psycho-analysts.  They 
have  attributed  great  importance  to  this  return  of  the  soul  upon  itself, 
this  backward  plunge  which  may  lead  to  a  fatal  blight  of  the  being, 
or  which  may,  on  the  contrary,  serve  as  a  sort  of  bath  of  youth  in 
which  the  inner  man  renews  his  strength  by  returning  to  its  source. 
We  shall  take  up  this  point  again  in  connection  with  the  Temptation. 
Meanwhile,  see : 

Morel,  Feed.,  Essai  sur  V Introversion  mystique.  Geneva,  Kiindig, 
1918. 

BLEtTLER,  E.,  Das  autistische  Denken,  Jb.  f.  psychoan.     Forsch.,  IV. 

Jung.,  C.  G.,  Wandlungen  und  Symbole  der  Libido.  II.  Teil,  ch. 
V-VI. 

SiLBERER,  H.,  Probleme  der  Mystik  und  ihrer  Symbolik.  III.  Teil, 
ch.  I. 

Id.,  Durch  Tod  sum  Leben.  Leipzig,  Heims,  1915. 

Ferenczi,  S.,  Introjektion  und  Uebertragung.  Leipzig,  Deuticke, 
19 10. 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  MYSTERY-RELIGIONS       35 

gradually  began  to  take  form  on  the  horizon,  the  divine 
manifestation  which  they  sought,  hoped  for,  and  desired 
and  which  would  respond  to  the  ardent  aspirations  of  the 
race. 

The  period  in  which  the  Mystery-Religions  flourished 
was,  I  have  said,  somewhat  analogous  to  that  which  we 
have  just  described.  Rome  too  had  already  reached  the 
height  of  her  power;  she  was  beginning  to  decline.  The 
reigns  under  which  the  Mystery-Cults  flourished  with  the 
greatest  intensity  were  those  of  the  decadence.  The  society 
of  which  people  had  dreamed  had  not  fulfilled  its  promise; 
a  great  disgust,  a  disillusioned  scepticism  laid  hold  of  men's 
souls.  Not  from  the  empire  would  salvation  come,  how- 
ever people  might  still  worship  the  emperor.  Thus  at  this 
time  too  a  powerful  movement  of  introversion  took  place. 
The  lesser  folk  particularly,  the  humble,  the  slaves  sought 
within  themselves  and  in  religion  for  what  they  could  not 
find  without,  in  society.  They  made  their  appeal  to  every- 
thing, to  all  the  gods,  to  all  the  religions;  but  their  souls 
were  constrained  to  turn  back  upon  themselves;  and  there 
alone  they  came  gradually  to  find  the  ideal  for  which  they 
had  sought  in  vain  in  the  established  cults.  In  the  name 
of  the  imperative  inner  needs  which  they  understood  but 
vaguely,  but  which  imposed  their  forms  upon  the  popular 
devotion,  the  cults  of  the  foreign  gods  were  transformed 
and  the  gods  themselves  altered  their  faces.  Little  by  little 
there  came  into  existence  a  type  of  the  God  of  Mysteries, 
a  sort  of  Saviour-God,  whose  features  still  retained  some  of 
the  inferior  characteristics  while  presenting  others  that  de- 
noted the  nobility  of  its  psychic  origins. 

Thus,  between  the  Israelitish  prophecy  and  the  spiritual 
movement  that  gave  rise  to  the  Mystery-Cults  there  exists 
an  analogy  not  only  in  respect  of  the  historical  epoch  but 
also  in  respect  of  the  creation  of  the  ideal.    We  might  say 


36  INTRODUCTION 

that,  in  a  certain  sense,  the  Messiah,  as  his  figure  appears 
in  the  Jewish  writings,  is  the  god  of  the  Israelitish  Mystery 
and  that  the  gods  of  the  Hellenico-Rdman  mysteries  are  the 
messianic  figures  created  by  the  Greco-Roman  soul. 

In  this  sense  the  two  movements  are  psychically  analo- 
gous. It  remains  to  determine  their  character,  or  rather 
to  determine  precisely  in  what  the  analogy  between  them 
consists.  It  is  not  a  historical  analogy.  Historically,  noth- 
ing could  be  more  different  than  Hebrew  prophecy  and  the 
Greco-Roman  mysteries.  But  the  psychic  processes  of 
these  two  religious  movements  present  a  common  character 
which,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  may  be  found  elsewhere  and 
may  be  discerned  in  other  periods  of  the  general  evolution 
of  religion.  They  move  in  the  same  direction,  guided  by 
the  same  forces;  they  both  seek  a  fulfilment  and  seek  it 
along  the  same  lines,  following  the  same  tendencies.  The 
same  anxiety  torments  them,  driving  them  to  place  in  the 
future  the  reply  to  the  unsatisfied  needs  from  which  their 
votaries  suffer.  Both  possess  what  might  be  called  the 
prophetic  gift  or  faculty,  which  is  nothing  else  than  the 
propensity  of  the  soul  to  evoke  in  advance  the  religious 
object  to  which  it  has  a  right  because  it  cannot  do  without 
it,  to  outline  its  features  and  construct  the  symbolic  figure 
from  them  while  awaiting  its  actual  realisation. 

We  might  say,  in  fact,  that  as  the  human  soul  gains  a 
better  knowledge  of  itself,  it  is  impelled  by  a  secret  and 
imperious  instinct  to  sketch  with  more  and  more  vivid 
strokes  the  ideal  lines  of  the  divine  figure  which  it  burns 
to  know  and  possess.  In  this  immense  task  all  the  forces 
of  the  being  and  all  its  faculties  are  evidently  united,  imagi- 
nation as  well  as  memory,  feeling  as  well  as  reason.  But 
above  all,  it  is  the  subconscious  energies  which  are  engaged 
in  this  effort.  The  Messiah  who  is  born  beneath  the  pen 
of  the  prophets,  the  gods  that  spring  from  the  imagination 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  MYSTERY-RELIGIONS       37 

of  the  initiates  and  the  priests  are  the  work  not  of  one 
man  but  of  whole  generations  who,  by  their  sufferings  and 
their  tormenting  aspirations,  effectually  contribute  to  bring 
them  forth.  Of  the  characteristics  that  compose  them, 
many  will  be  dropped  along  the  way;  others  will  declare 
themselves  with  greater  force  and  will  remain.  In  the 
completed  figure  there  will  be  both  contributions  from  the 
past  and  fresh  elements.  But,  on  the  one  side  as  on  the 
other,  it  is  a  new  divine  figure  that  emerges  gradually  from 
the  old  ones,  and  one  would  say  that  this  figure  had  been 
kneaded  from  the  flesh,  the  blood,  and  the  tears  of  labour- 
ing humanity;  it  is,  from  the  point  of  view  of  piety,  as  if 
the  Father  had  created  the  Son  out  of  Man,  out  of  the 
human  consciousness. 

But  I  do  not  wish  to  insist  unreasonably  upon  this  parallel 
between  the  movement  that  produced  the  Mystery-Religions 
and  Hebrew  prophecy.  It  would  be  rather  pedantic  to 
pursue  it  too  far,  the  more  so  as  my  intention  in  referring 
to  it  has  been  merely  to  point  out  a  characteristic  of  psychic 
creation  which  is  especially  perceptible  here  but  which  is 
to  be  found  elsewhere,  the  tendency,  constantly  manifested 
by  the  religious  soul,  to  fashion  divine  figures  and  create  a 
type  of  salvation  that  is  better  adapted  than  the  old  gods 
and  the  beliefs  of  the  past  to  the  deepest  needs  of  the  per- 
sonality and  the  race.  This  may  be  the  very  basis  of  the 
whole  evolution  of  religion,  and  I  am  not  far  from  thinking 
that  it  may  be  the  secret  of  it. 

Now,  if  we  take  the  Mysteries,  on  the  one  hand,  and 
Jesus  Christ  on  the  other  as  the  two  terminating  points  in 
analogous  mental  processes,  the  one  crowning  the  religious 
development  of  Hellenistic  syncretism,  the  other  crowning 
the  long  evolution  of  the  Jewish  religion,  we  are  in  a  posi- 
tion, by  looking  backward,  to  survey  the  psychic  steps  that 
have  led  to  this  double  efflorescence.    We  can  then,  while 


38  INTRODUCTION 

reserving  our  appreciation  of  their  respective  meanings  and 
values,  point  out  their  striking  similarity. 

In  both  cases  we  discover  a  search  in  which  are  united 
all  the  life-forces  of  humanity,  or  rather  of  a  portion  of 
humanity,  a  human  group.  In  both  cases  we  see  man  in 
search  of  the  divinity  and  the  divine  life.  Here  we  have 
the  distinctly  religious  search,  the  religious  problem  taking 
shape  and  demanding  a  solution.  We  might  investigate 
this  religious  search  in  other  periods  and  among  other 
peoples,  and  we  should  no  doubt  find  that  it  was  identical 
everywhere.  But  although  we  have  no  wish  to  isolate  them 
from  the  great  universal  current  of  the  evolution  of  re- 
ligion, it  is  to  the  Mystery-Religions  that  we  must  limit 
our  study  here.  We  shall  ask  ourselves  how  in  them  the 
prophetic  faculty  has  developed  psychically,  what  are  the 
means  it  has  employed  and  the  processes  which  it  has  called 
into  action  to  evoke,  before  the  consciousness,  the  religious 
object  which  it  desired. 

§  2.      THE   SYMBOLISM   OF   THE   MYSTERIES:    ITS   RELATIONS 
WITH  THAT  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

Those  who  are  concerned  with  religious  convictions  as 
well  as  with  religious  phenomena,  find  that  religion  appears 
everywhere  to  include  two  movements,  that  of  man  striving 
to  raise  himself  towards  God,  that  of  the  divinity  reaching 
down  to  man.  These  two  movements,  meeting  and  uniting 
with  one  another,  constitute  the  religious  life,  living  and 
lived. 

In  psychology,  however,  we  are  not  concerned  with  the 
second  of  these  movements  (God  reaching  down  towards 
man)  since  psychology  expressly  excludes  the  transcen- 
dental. We  shall  therefore  examine  only  the  former,  which 
is  the  effort  of  the  religious  quest  of  man.    But  how  does 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  MYSTERY-RELIGIONS       39 

this  effort  manifest  itself?  It  manifests  itself  through  a 
series  of  modifications  in  the  representations  that  man 
makes  of  his  gods  or  his  god,  and  by  an  almost  parallel 
series  of  modifications  in  the  idea  which  he  has  formed  of 
salvation,  of  the  life  with  God,  of  the  communion  with  the 
divinity,  of  the  manner  of  becoming  divine  or  participating 
in  the  divine  life. 

The  conception  of  the  divinity,  the  conception  of  salva- 
tion or  of  the  divine  life,  these  things  take  shape  in  a 
symbolism  which  is  the  only  means  of  representing  the 
ineffable.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  nothing  that  relates  to  God, 
nothing  that  tries  to  express  God  can  translate  itself  to 
the  human  understanding  and  manifest  itself  externally 
save  under  symbolic  forms.  Man  has  no  other  means  of 
expressing  the  inexpressible,  of  rendering  in  material  terms 
that  which  is  spiritual  in  essence.  As  soon  as  he  seeks  to 
explain  his  god  to  himself  and  to  define  him  in  some  fashion 
or  other,  he  is  obliged,  by  the  very  nature  of  his  intelligence 
to  have  recourse  to  symbols.  Thus  we  have  a  double  sym- 
bolism, one  dealing  with  the  persons  of  the  gods  themselves, 
manifesting  itself  through  the  attributes  which  man,  the 
sculptor,  accords  to  them,  the  figure  he  gives  them,  the  form 
symbolising  here  the  nature  which  the  human  mind  attrib- 
utes to  its  divinities  and  the  intentions  it  ascribes  to  them. 
The  other  is  the  symbolism  the  important  role  of  which 
is  found  in  the  rites,  the  ceremonies,  the  festivals,  the  sac- 
raments, the  liturgies,  and,  in  general,  in  all  the  spectacles 
of  the  sacred  ceremony:  this  is  the  symbolism  of  the  means 
of  appropriating  the  divine  life  or  of  participating  in  it, 
the  symbolism  of  the  cult  and  the  Mysteries. 

Now,  whence  do  the  elements  of  this  double  symbolism 
come?  Its  psychological  elements,  I  mean.  What  is  it 
that  has  impelled  the  human  soul  to  represent  its  gods  in 
one  manner  rather  than  in  another?     In  choosing  for  them 


40  INTRODUCTION 

attributes  from  nature,  what  has  led  it  to  give  these  at- 
tributes a  precise  meaning  in  relation  to  human  life?  To 
all  these  questions  there  is  only  one  possible  answer.  Man 
can  no  more  pass  outside  his  own  consciousness  than  he 
can  escape  from  his  own  shadow.  It  is  in  him  that  we 
must  seek  for  the  origin  of  the  double  symbolism  which  the 
evolution  of  the  religions  manifests.  In  struggling  to  rep- 
resent the  god  which  he  felt  labouring  within  him,  he  could 
start  only  from  the  depths  of  the  experience  which  he  had 
within  him.  Now,  the  psycho-analysts  tell  us  that  what 
constitutes  the  primitive  psychic  constellation  in  man,  the 
oldest  basis,  the  most  elementary  associations  of  the  soul, 
is  what  they  call  the  family-complex,  that  is  to  say,  those 
associations  of  ideas,  heavily  charged  with  affectivity,  which, 
with  the  young  child,  during  the  first  years  of  its  life,  are 
grouped  or,  so  to  speak,  coagulated  about  the  images  of 
the  father  and  the  mother  and  all  that  concerns  them.^ 
When  he  turns  back  into  himself,  in  the  phenomenon  of 
introversion,  it  is  to  this  that  the  man  returns.  He  re- 
discovers the  family-complex,  subconsciously  present  in  the 
depths  of  himself,  lays  hold  upon  it,  and  translates  it  ex- 
ternally in  his  works  of  art,  his  philosophy,  his  literature, 
and  his  religion.  It  is  therefore  most  probable  that  from 
this  family-complex  there  also  sprang  the  symbolism 
through  which  man  has  sought  to  represent  his  gods. 

^  The  question  of  the  family-complex  will  be  taken  up  in  more  de- 
tail in  connection  with  the  myths,  pp.  109  et  seqq.  Cf.,  in  regard  to  this 
question : 

Rank,  Das-Insest-Motiv.  (The  consequences  of  the  family-complex 
in  literature.) 

Jones,  The  Problem  of  Hamlet.  Amer.  Journal  of  Psychology,  1910, 
XXI,  72  (id.). 

Freud,  Eine  Kindheitserinncrung  des  Leonardo  da  Vinci.  Schriften 
z.  angew.  Seelenkunde.  Heft  VII.  (Consequences  of  the  family- 
complex  in  art.) 

Id.,  Totem  und  Tabu.     (Consequences  in  religion  and  civilization.) 

Pfister,  Die  Frommigkeit  des  Graf  en  L.  von  Zinzendorf.  (Conse- 
quences in  religion.) 

Id.,  Bin  neuer  Zugang  cum  alien  Evangelium.     (id.) 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  MYSTERY-RELIGIONS       41 

It  follows  that  even  if  the  primitive  religions  which  gave 
birth  to  the  Mysteries  may  have  been  agricultural  cults, 
born  from  magical  ideas  related  to  the  productivity  of  the 
soil  and  to  economic  preoccupations  (though  this  is  not 
absolutely  proved)  the  agrarian  symbolism  of  these  cults 
rapidly  became  charged  with  a  meaning  that  is  more  directly 
human.  The  concepts  of  production,  of  fecundity,  were 
closely  bound  up,  in  the  human  mind,  with  the  family- 
complex;  and  the  violent  urge  of  the  libido  in  the  direction 
of  religion  promptly  seized  upon  this  primitive  symbolism, 
transforming  it  in  its  own  image.  The  gods  and  the  god- 
desses became  fathers  and  mothers,  bound  up  with  the  fam- 
ily-complex and  evolving  with  it. 

There  is  much  to  be  said  on  this  subject,  and  no  doubt 
the  observations  of  psychology,  further  excavations,  and 
the  study  of  antiquity  will  teach  us  a  great  deal  more  about 
the  evolution  of  this  symbolism.  Here  let  us  merely  point 
out  one  of  its  most  marked  features.  The  symbols  which 
manifest  themselves  in  the  Mystery-Religions  are,  at  the 
same  time  and  by  turns,  material  and  mystical^  What  do 
we  mean  by  this?  Conceived  at  first  materially,  interpreted 
literally,  as  if  they  expressed  the  earthy  idea  that  man 
held  in  the  beginning  about  his  gods,  their  nature,  and  their 
relations,  the  symbols  take  on,  little  by  little,  according  to 
the  nature  of  the  souls  and  the  quality  of  the  souls  that 
contemplate  them,  an  import  that  is  in  a  way  prophetic. 
The  seeking  soul  sees  in  them  a  profounder  meaning,  more 
moral,  more  elevated,  more  worthy  of  the  spirit.  This  life 
of  the  symbols  must  have  been  infinitely  complex  and 
varied,  reflecting  the  oscillations  of  the  inner  life  of  the 
faithful.     And  that  is  why  it  is  perfectly  ridiculous  and 


*  For  exact  information  on  this  subject,  see  Silberer,  Ueber  die 
Symbolhildung,  Jahrbuch  f.  psychoanal.  Forsch.,  Ill,  pp.  661-723,  and 
below,  pp.  28  et  seqq.,  70,  etc. 


42  INTRODUCTION 

vain  to  try  to  assign  to  each  a  meaning  that  is  exact  and 
ne  varietur.  It  was  by  a  very  slow  progress,  interrupted 
by  retreats  and  detours,  that  the  gods  of  the  Mysteries  be- 
came the  Saviour-gods.  The  representations  that  men  made 
of  them  and  the  idea  which  they  had  of  a  communion  with 
them,  expressed  under  the  form  of  symbols,  probably  never 
had  an  identical  significance  for  all  their  votaries.  Born, 
perhaps,  under  the  influence  of  agricultural  labours,  these 
symbols  very  quickly  took  on  a  sexual  significance,  reflect- 
ing the  formidable  urge  of  the  instinctive  libido  which  ani- 
mates all  men.  But  the  life  of  the  spirit,  rising  from  this 
natural  basis,  slowly  transformed  their  meaning,  gradually 
purifying  them  until  it  finally  contemplated  in  them  the 
image  of  filial  and  paternal  relations  of  a  spiritual  nature, 
unions  of  the  spirit  which  led  no  longer  to  a  carnal  birth  but 
to  a  new  birth. 

Let  us  now  attempt  to  render  this  psychic  evolution  per- 
ceptible by  taking  up  two  features  of  which  we  have  already 
spoken:  the  different  conceptions  which  men  formed  of  the 
nature  of  the  gods  and  those  which  they  held  of  a  union 
with  them,  showing  how  the  souls  of  the  faithful  were  able 
to  rise  above  these  symbols,  to  rise  from  a  primitive  and 
grossly  materialistic  sexuality  to  the  purest  spirituality.  In 
doing  so  we  shall  be  tracing  at  the  same,  time  the  prophetic 
line  which  develops  in  the  creation  and  evolution  of  the 
cult  of  the  Mysteries. 

Let  us  try  not  to  forget,  in  tracing  this  line,  that  a  con- 
trary tendency  constantly  restrains  the  human  soul  in  its 
ascent  and  seems  to  take  pleasure  in  arresting  it  in  its  rise 
towards  sublimation.  This  is  so  true  that,  even  in  Chris- 
tianity, after  the  appearance  and  the  life  of  the  Saviour,  the 
materialism  of  the  conceptions  once  more  takes  the  upper 
hand  and,  seizing  upon  the  most  purely  spiritual  symbols, 
charges  them  with  a  meaning  that  is  grossly  and  unquali- 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  MYSTERY-RELIGIONS       43 

fiedly  earthy.  It  seems  truly  as  if  the  soul,  rising  in  its 
course  of  sublimation,  had  continually  to  overcome  a  re- 
sistance that  tends  to  keep  it  in  the  sexual  dream. 

In  the  Mystery-Cults,  the  divine  figure,  which  responds 
to  the  deepest  desires  of  the  soul,  is  thus  outlined  on  the 
primitive  basis  of  the  family-complex.  At  times  this  evo- 
lution has  probably  begun  with  more  or  less  traditional 
elements  which  it  has  transformed  in  the  image  of  the 
human  psychology,  using  the  themes  of  the  ancient  religions 
as  a  pedestal  upon  which  to  erect  the  incomparable  statue 
which  the  great  sculptor,  Human  Desire,  has  been  rough- 
hewing  with  little  strokes,  now  slowly,  now  with  a  magnifi- 
cent impatience.  In  the  following  survey  I  shall  pay  no 
attention  to  chronology;  it  would  take  too  long  to  establish 
this,  and  it  might  make  little  difference  in  any  case,  since 
the  inner  labour  of  which  I  speak  varies  in  different  cities, 
countries,  races,  and  peoples  and  does  not  follow  every- 
where the  same  order.  On  the  other  hand,  I  shall  seek 
to  trace  here  and  there  a  few  parallels  with  Christianitj/-, 
showing  how,  in  the  development  of  the  Christian  Church, 
we  find  at  wqrk  the  same  forces  that  have  united  in  the 
formation  of  other  cults,  producing  analogous  effects  there 
also  and  leading  to  conceptions  of  the  divinity  in  which 
we  rediscover  at  times  gross  and  primitive  needs  and  desires 
— like  the  erratic  blocks  of  geology — that  have  not  yet  at- 
tained to  sublimation. ° 

I.  First  we  see,  in- the  Mystery-Cults,  the  union  with  the 
god  conceived  in  an  entirely  material  fashion,  as  a  physical, 
a  sort  of  corporeal  union.  The  god  is  supposed  to  enter 
into  the  believer,  to  penetrate  him,  in  an  altogether  material, 
a  quite  unspiritual,  manner.  Undoubtedly  it  is  in  this 
fashion  that  we  must  conceive  of  the  sacred  feasts  which 

5  Most  of  the  features  of  this  outline  are  borrowed  from  Dieterich, 
Eine  Mithrasliturgie,  1903. 


44  INTRODUCTION 

took  place  in  the  cult  of  Mithra  and  in  that  of  Attis.® 
These  may  be  compared  with  the  totcmic  repasts  of  the 
primitive  peoples,  in  which,  by  eating  the  sacred  animal, 
the  faithful  appropriate  its  strength.  Unfortunately,  we  do 
not  know  exactly  what  relation  existed  between  the  sacrifice 
of  the  bull,  in  the  cult  of  Mithra,  and  the  sacred  feast,  nor 
even  whether  there  was  any  such  relation.  But  it  seems 
fairly  probable  that,  in  the  beginning  at  least,  the  mystics 
of  these  two  cults  were  supposed  to  acquire  the  god's 
strength  in  some  magical  way  by  the  manducation  of  the 


^  Cf.  CuMONT,  Les  religions  orientales  dans  I'empire  roniain,  pp.  103 
et  seqq.,  and  Hepding,  Attis,  p.  186. 

Besides  the  banquet  of  the  thiasus  or  sodalicium  of  the  votaries  of 
the  cult  of  the  Great  Mother,  there  was  probably  another  sacred  meal 
which  took  place  in  the  sanctuary  itself  at  the  moment  of  the  initia- 
tion. After  having  been  purified  by  several  successive  baptisms,  the 
initiate  sat  down  to  the  divine  meal.  Cybele  and  Attis  admitted  him  to 
their  holy  table ;  he  became  a  member  of  the  divine  family.  The 
wafer  that  was  offered  him  had  the  form  of  the  tympanum  which  the 
goddess  held  in  her  hand ;  the  chalice  was  the  cymbal,  the  attribute  of 
Attis,  from  which  he  drank  the  beverage  of  immortality.  A  cake  of 
pure  wheat  together  with  wine  seems  to  have  been  the  composition  of 
this  meal.  Judging  from  the  funerary  inscription  of  a  priest  named 
Aberkios,  Hepding  offers  the  hypothesis  that  at  this  ceremony  they  ate 
fish,  bread,  and  a  mixture  of  wine  and  water.  It  is  possible  that  in 
the  beginning,  in  Phrygia,  they  may  have  consumed  a  divine  animal  in 
order  to  identify  themselves  with  the  god  and  participate  in  his  sub- 
stance, as  the  totemists  do.  But  at  Rome  this  gross  significance  of  the 
communion  gradually  vanishes.  The  viands  become  at  length  a  spirit- 
ual aliment  which  shall  sustain  the  initiate  amidst  the  trials  of  life. 
This  sacred  feast  has  left  us  one  of  the  few  liturgical  formulas  of 
antiquity  that  have  been  preserved :  "I  have  eaten  from  the  tabor,  I 
have  drunk  from  the  cymbal,  I  have  become  a  mystic  of  Attis."  (Cf. 
Firmicus  and  Clement  of  Alexandria.) 

A  similar  repast  is  also  celebrated  in  the  cult  of  Mithra.  We  can 
distinguish  the  outline  of  this  from  the  representations  on  the  bas- 
reliefs  m  which  the  loaves  of  bread  and  the  chalice  are  clearly  visible. 
With  the  love-feast  of  Mithra  was  mingled  a  reminiscence  of  a  last 
feast  of  which  the  god  was  supposed  to  have  partaken,  in  company 
with  the  sun,  at  the  end  of  his  career. 

It  is  difficult  to  say  what  was  the  original  source  either  of  the  Chris- 
tian Communion  or  of  the  pagan  communion.  It  is  possible  and  even 
more  than  probable  that  Jesus,  when  he  instituted  the  Lord's  Supper, 
had  no  intention  of  making  a  sacrament  of  it.  If  that  is  the  case, 
there  is  some  foundation  for  the  hypothesis  that  the  Christians  ma- 
terialised this  personal  memorial  later  on  and  raised  it  to  the  rank  of 
a  sacred  ceremony  as  a  result  of  contact  with  the  pagan  sacraments. 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  MYSTERY-RELIGIONS       45 

sacred  food.  In  the  same  fashion  the  absorption  of  the 
sacred  drink  of  Eleusis,  the  ju^ecov  (cyceon)  was  regarded 
as  certain  to  communicate  the  divine  life  in  a  more  or  less 
material  way. 

This  tendency  to  consider  the  union  with  the  divinity 
as  something  physical  and  therefore  mechanical  is  found 
ever3rwhere.  It  makes  its  appearance  also  in  primitive 
Christianity,  where  the  Lord's  Supper  was  speedily  turned 
into  a  feast  similar  to  those  of  the  pagan  cults  in  which  the 
god  was,  so  to  speak,  ingurgitated  by  the  believer.  This 
manner  of  regarding  it  is  still  triumphant  in  the  conception 
of  the  Eucharist  that  exists  at  the  heart  of  Catholicism.^ 

What  is  the  reason  of  this  tendency,  and  how  can  we 
explain  it  psychologically?  At  bottom  it  is  nothing  but 
the  line  of  least  resistance;  it  gratifies  the  natural  laziness 
of  man;  it  substitutes  dreams  for  action.  Instead  of  striv- 
ing to  possess  one's  god,  one  receives  him  by  a  purely 
material  process.  How  much  simpler  and  easier  it  is!  We 
are  dealing  here  with  the  same  tendency  which  the  psycho- 
analysts have  already  pointed  out  in  introversion:  the  pro- 
pensity to  adopt  the  way  of  dreams  rather  than  to  seize 
upon  reality  and  struggle  with  it.^ 

7  Cf.  Anrich,  Das  antike  Mysteriemuesen,  pp.  155-164,  200-205,  218. 

BoNWETSCH,  Wescn,  Entstehung  und  Fortgang  der  Arcandissiplin. 
Zeitschrift  f.  hist.  Theologie,  XLIII,  1873,  pp.  295  et  seqq. 

LooFS,  Art.  Abcndmahl  in  Herzog  Realencycl.  fiir  prot.  Theol.  I,  1896. 

Drews,  Art.  Eucharistie,  ibid.,  1898. 

Goblet  D'Alviella,  Eleusinia,  p.  146. 

SoLTAU,  Das  Fortleben  des  Heid^entums  in  der  altchristlichen  Kirche. 
Berlin,  Reimer,   1906. 

Barbier,  H.,  Essai  historiqiie  sur  la  signification  primitive  de  la 
Sainte  Ccne.    St.  Blaise,  Foyer  solid.,  191 1,  pp.  171. 

GoGUEL,  H.  M.,  L' Eucharistie,  des  Origines  a  Justin  Martyr,  igio. 

®  See  (p.  168  et  seqq.)  the  three  possible  issues  of  introversion.  It 
may  constitute  a  loss  of  what  M.  P.  Janet  calls  the  function  of  the 
real  for  the  benefit  of  the  dream.  It  may,  on  the  contrary,  be  only  a 
moment  in  the  process  through  which  the  individual  escapes  from  the 
constraints  of  reality  to  rediscover  in  himself  those  latent  forces  which 
will  enable  him  to  confront  again,  and  this  time  victoriously,  the  diffi- 
culties of  life.  Cf.  also  Flournoy,  Th.,  Une  mystique  moderne.  Arch, 
de  Psychol.  XV,  191 5,  pp.  206-207. 


46  INTRODUCTION 

Scarcely  had  Christ  quitted  this  earth  when,  in  the  very 
field  of  the  Christian  religion  itself,  we  see  this  propensity 
to  materialise  the  relation  to  God,  to  consider  it  as  in  some 
way  a  physical  union,  reappearing.  I  am  thinking  not  only 
of  the  distortion  of  the  Lord's  Supper  but  also  of  the  man- 
ner of  representing  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit  as  we  see  it 
as  early  as  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  and  even  in  one 
or  two  expressions  in  the  gospels.  To  believe  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  themselves,  the  apostles  were 
obliged  to  see  tongues  of  flame  descending  upon  their  heads 
and  to  hear  the  sound  of  a  mightj^  wind.  We  are  told  in 
the  gospels  (John  xx,  22)  that  Jesus  breathed  on  his  dis- 
ciples, saying  to  them,  "Receive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost,"  as  if 
it  was  his  breath  which,  penetrating  them  in  a  material 
way,  brought  them  into  a  spiritual  communion  with  God. 
What  we  have  here  is  obviously  a  very  ingenuous  idea  of 
the  penetration  of  man  by  the  Holy  Ghost;  it  is  as  if  a 
divine  substance  entered  into  his  body  and  took  possession 
of  it.  The  gift  of  tongues,  the  glossolaly,  was  also  regarded 
by  the  first  generation  of  believers  as  the  result,  the  material 
sign  of  this  presence  of  the  Spirit  in  man.  Saint  Paul  him- 
self seems  to  have  shared  this  opinion,  even  while  he  cen- 
sured the  abuse  of  a  mode  of  expression  that  was  certainly 
extravagant  and  anything  but  edifying.^ 

2.  A  second  manner  of  representing  the  union  with  the 
divinity  which  we  frequently  encounter  in  the  Mystery- 
Cults  consists  in  making  it  a  sexual  union.  Here  again 
appears  the  idea  of  a  physical,  material  penetration  of  the 
believer  on  the  part  of  the  god.  In  this  notion  we  also  see 
very  clearly  the  influence  of  the  family-complex.  The  sym- 
bol of  the  sexual  union  with  the  deity  has,  so  to  speak,  two 
aspects:  a  material  aspect  which  springs  from  the  infantile 

»  Cf.  I  Cor.  xiv  and  particularly  v.  19. 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  MYSTERY-RELIGIONS       47 

roots  and  the  family-complex,  but  also  a  teleological  or  ana- 
gogical  aspect  that  looks  toward  a  mystical  or  mystico- 
spiritualistic  union  along  the  paths  of  sublimation.  By  em- 
ploying this  symbol  the  faithful  will  pass  from  the  carnal 
love  to  the  spiritual  or  divine  love,  and  in  the  measure  in 
which  they  succeed  in  sublimating  their  desires,  the  current 
of  life  which  bears  them  along  in  their  quest  for  the  divinity 
will  take  on  an  entirely  different  tonality  in  which  the  pas- 
sional will  become  the  religious,  in  the  proper  sense  of  the 
word. 

Before  entering  upon  these  considerations,  however,  let 
us  recall  a  few  facts  which  illustrate  this  conception  of  the 
union  with  the  god.  First  of  all,  there  is  the  part  played 
by  the  serpent  in  the  initiation  ceremonies,  of  which 
Dieterich  reminds  us.^''  The  latter  cites  Clement  of  Alex- 
andria who,  in  connection  with  the  Mysteries  of  Sabazios, 
speaks  of  the  serpent  that  was  drawn  from  the  bosom  of 
the  mystic  at  a  certain  moment  of  the  initiation  and  which 
was  called  o  6ia  koXttov  Beo?,  the  god  who  passes  through 
the  bosom.  This  rite,  according  to  Dieterich,  has  nothing 
to  do  with  the  ancient  rites  of  adoption  in  which  the  adopted 
child  was  drawn  from  the  bosom  of  the  adoptive  mother, 
as  if  to  symbolise  birth.  Here  it  is  the  god  who  is  drawn 
from  the  breast  of  the  believer:  and  this  can  signify  noth- 
ing but  a  sexual  union  between  the  god  and  the  initiate,  for, 
as  with  the  Gnostics,  the  god  always  represents  the  male 
element  in  relation  to  the  believer,  to  the  soul  of  the  be- 
liever, which  is  the  feminine  element. 

To  pass  to  another  order  of  ideas,  we  may  also  mention 
the  frequent  entrance  of  the  initiate  into  the  naGxo?.  The 
TtaffTo?  seems  to  designate,  in  the  ecclesiastical  language 
of  the  Greeks,  the  nuptial  chamber.    Accordingly,  when  the 

10  Cf.  Dieterich,  Eine  Mithrasliturgie. 


48  INTRODUCTION 

initate  of  Cybele  enters  into  the  naaro'^  of  the  goddess,  it 
signifies  a  sexual  union  with  the  divinity." 

Shall  we  speak  of  the  baskets  which  were  carried  in  al- 
most all  the  sacred  processions  of  the  Mysteries  and  the 
contents  of  which  remained  concealed?  These  baskets 
were,  in  all  probability,  supposed  to  contain  the  phallus 
of  the  god,  and  here  again  the  idea  of  a  sexual  union  was 
dissembled. 

We  must  also  mention  at  this  point  the  enormous  role 
played  by  the  impeded  sexual  union  in  the  cult  of  Attis 
and  Cybele.  The  whole  myth  turns  on  this;  and  is  not  the 
castration  of  Attis,  as  well  as  that  of  the  Galli,  his  priests, 
a  symbolic  allusion  to  the  repressions  that  prevent  this 
union? 

Let  us  cite  also  the  hierogamies,  or  sacred  marriages,  that 
of  the  initiate  with  Cybele,  the  Great  Mother,  that  of 
Dionysus,  in  the  Eleusinian  Mysteries,  with  the  wife  of  the 
archon-king,  after  the  reconstitution  of  his  torn  body. 
Finally,  the  whole  myth  of  Isis  and  Osiris  gathers  around 
the  marriage  of  the  brother  and  the  sister.  These  Mystery- 
Cults  and  their  ceremonies  are  steeped  in  the  idea  of  the 
sexual  union. 

We  find  this  idea  elsewhere  as  well,  for  example  among 
the  Gnostics.  Dieterich  mentions,  on  the  testimony  of 
Irenaeus,  a  Gnostic  group,  the  Markosians,  among  whom  the 
union  with  the  deity  is  conceived  as  a  spiritual  marriage; 
their  rites  of  initiation  represent  this  nvsvjxanxo'i  yd/^o?. 

The  frequency  of  the  sexual  symbols  (the  phallus  or  the 
female  organs)   in  the  different  religions "  and,  in  those 

11  Cf.  CuMONT,  Les  religions  orientales,  p.  86.  Hepding,  Attis,  p.  193. 
Gruppe,  Griechische  Mythologie,  1906,  p.  1541. 

12  Tertullian,  in  his  pamphlet  against  the  Valentinians,  seems  to  admit 
that  at  the  moment  of  the  epoptia,  the  last  act  of  the  Eleusinian  Mys- 
teries, a  male  member  was  exhibited.  Clement  of  Alexandria,  in  his 
expose  of  the  myth  of  the  Cabiri,  speaks  of  the  basket  in  which  the 
phallus  of  Dionysus  was  hidden.    The  phallic  symbol  played  a  part  in 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  MYSTERY-RELIGIONS       49 

of  the  Mysteries,  the  constant  return  to  sexual  symbolism 
may  shock  or  scandalise  or,  at  any  rate,  bore  some  persons. 
But  we  must  learn  to  look  truth  in  the  face  and,  instead  of 
being  shocked  by  appearances,  seek  to  solve  the  problem 
which  they  raise.  It  is  not  our  fault  if  things  are  so.  The 
frequency  of  sexual  symbols  in  the  religions  of  humanity 
is  a  fact.  We  must  accept  this  fact  and  see  what  lies  be- 
neath it. 

We  have  endeavoured  to  show  how  the  ideas  of  fecundity, 
of  seed-sowing,  born  through  contact  with  the  labours  of 
agriculture,  must  have  immediately  awakened  in  man  those 
associations  of  ideas,  those  psychic  complexes,  which  con- 
stitute the  family-complex.  It  is  quite  natural  that  the 
gods,  originally  agrarian,  should  have  become,  owing  to 
these  psychic  reverberations,  gods  who  also  called  up  sexual 
ideas.  The  springing  up  of  life  on  the  earth,  which  is  cov- 
ered with  fruits  and  grains,  immediately  suggests  the  spring- 
ing up  of  the  vital  energies  of  man.  Now,  for  the  purely 
carnal  man  this  exuberance  of  the  life-forces  attains  its 
culminating  point  in  the  awakening  of  sexuality.  This 
urge  of  love  is  in  a  way  the  keenest  note  of  life  wishing  to 
live. 

Man,  however,  does  not  stop  here.  He  realises  that  sex- 
ual love  is  not  the  whole  of  love,  that  the  true  love  travels 
higher  and  farther,  that  the  forces  which  bear  it  and  drive 
it  on  do  not  stop  with  sexuality,  that  it  is  a  delusion  to 
see  in  this  a  fulfilment.  The  symbol  of  love  is  a  marvellous 
thing  when  one  does  not  stop  short  with  its  materiality, 
when  one  sees  in  the  union  of  two  beings  not  merely  a 
spasm  of  the  flesh,  but  the  fusion  of  two  lives  through  every- 
thing that  is  most  noble  in  them.     Adolescents,  who  are 

the  Alexandrian  Mysteries  (Cf.  Reitzenstein,  Poimandrcs,  p.  86,  and 
Mead,  Thrice-Greatest  Hermes,  I,  p.  155).  Osiris  was  honoured  with 
a  phallic  cult  (Cf.  De  Jong,  Das  Antike  Mysterienwesen,  p.  80). 


50  INTRODUCTION 

still  ignorant  of  the  baseness  of  the  world  and  feel  life 
welling  up  in  them,  sometimes  have  in  their  existence  an 
instant  in  which  the  carnal  and  the  divine,  not  yet  differen- 
tiated, mingle  in  a  charming  and  touching  innocence  and 
naivete.  We  cannot  bear  them  any  ill  will  for  this.  Well, 
humanity,  too,  has  passed  through  this  phase.  It  only 
becomes  culpable  when,  aware  of  immorality,  it  connives 
at  it. 

In  the  cults  we  have  examined  there  were,  no  doubt,  be- 
lievers of  both  these  sorts.  But  we  may  be  sure  that  at 
the  moment  when,  in  the  inexperienced  souls  of  human  be- 
ings, the  sexual  symbols  were  born  which  so  shock  us  to-day 
and  many  of  which  were  probably  wilfully  exaggerated  later, 
what  was  at  work  was  no  sensual  and  repulsive  dilettantism 
but  rather  a  natural  urge  of  the  life-forces.  The  substance 
of  these  symbols  partakes  of  our  own  substance,  our  own 
clay;  but  the  spirit  that  we  may  read  into  it,  and  that  some 
souls  did  undoubtedly  read  into  it,  led  people  to  a  higher 
level.  From  the  sexual  love  they  were  impelled  to  rise 
to  the  divine  love,  which  kindles  in  human  souls  the  fires 
of  sacrifice  and  brings  to  fulfilment  the  gift  of  the  self  in 
its  superhuman  plenitude. 

This  sublimation,  attained  by  the  aid  of  sexual  symbols, 
we  shall  observe  in  Christianity  also.  And  here  again  the 
parallel  can  be  easily  traced.  It  may  be  remarked  that 
among  the  Jews  themselves,  and  in  the  Old  Testament,  the 
relation  between  man  and  God,  or  rather  between  the  chosen 
people  and  their  God,  is  sometimes  represented  as  a  mar- 
riage and  contrasted  with  the  relations  of  the  same  people 
with  the  false  gods  who  are  then,  on  the  contrary,  regarded 
as  adulterers.  We  find  this  image  in  the  prophets,  for 
example  in  Hosea,  Chaps.  I  and  III,  and  in  Ezekiel,  Chaps. 
XVI  and  XXIII.  In  the  New  Testament  also,  the  idea  of 
the  marriage  of  Christ  with  the  Church  is  advanced;  here 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  MYSTERY-RELIGIONS       51 

the  symbol  is  entirely  anagogical,  but  it  exists  nevertheless. 
It  is  in  this  sense  and  by  the  aid  of  this  symbol  that  people 
have  begun  to  expound  the  Song  of  Songs,  and  it  is  thanks 
to  the  exegesis  in  question  that  this  love-poem  has  remained 
in  our  Sacred  Canon;  it  so  remains  as  an  irrefutable  evi- 
dence of  the  importance  of  sexual  symbols  in  a  religion  that 
is  yet  freer  than  any  other  from  sexuality. 

Finally,  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  recall  the  mystic  union 
of  the  saints  of  the  Middle  Ages  with  the  divine  bridegroom, 
the  union  of  which  Saint  Catherine  remains  the  prototype, 
but  which  we  find  also  in  the  case  of  Saint  Theresa,  in 
Marguerite-Marie  Alacoque,  Margarete  Ebner  (b.  1240), 
and  Adelaide  Langmann  (d.  1375).  At  times  these  unions 
present  a  form  which  is  entirely  sensual,  as  in  the  scene 
of  the  transverberation  of  Saint  Theresa;  at  times,  on  the 
contrary,  the  sensual  aspect  is  almost  completely  effaced  be- 
fore the  mounting  spirituality.  But  the  sexual  roots  of  the 
symbol  can  be  found  everywhere. 

Jesus  himself  is  called  the  bridegroom  when,  replying  to 
those  who  reproached  his  disciples  for  not  fasting,  he  said 
to  them:  *'Can  the  children  of  the  bridechamber  fast  while 
the  bridegroom  is  with  them?  As  long  as  they  have  the 
bridegroom  with  them  they  cannot  fast.  But  the  days  will 
come,  when  the  bridegroom  shall  be  taken  away  from  them, 
and  then  shall  they  fast  in  those  days."     (Mark  ii,  19.) 

3.  A  third  manner  of  representing  the  union  of  man 
with  the  divinity,  which  may  be  found  in  the  Mysteries, 
but  which  is  also  to  be  discovered  abundantly  elsewhere, 
is  to  consider  it  under  the  symbols  of  paternity  and  sonskip. 
Dieterich,  well  before  the  birth  of  psycho-analysis,  alluded 
to  the  very  frequent  relations  of  paternity  and  filiality  in 
the  various  religions.  He  pointed  out  that  in  this  one  could 
see  the  transference  into  the  religious  domain  of  the  most 
intimate  earthly  bond  that  exists  between  men.     He  also 


52  INTRODUCTION 

laid  stress  on  the  fact  that  the  relations  between  the  child 
and  its  father  or  mother  are  among  the  purest  and  the  most 
concretely  representable  that  can  be  imagined,  but  that 
nevertheless  religious  thought  had  first  conceived  of  beget- 
ting or  creation  by  the  divinity  after  the  pattern  of  purely 
human  processes. 

Psycho-analysis,  by  showing  us  how  deeply  tinged  with 
sexual  colours  these  relations  of  the  child  with  the  father 
and  mother  are  from  the  beginning,  how  deeply  the  family- 
complex  sinks  its  roots  into  the  child's  sexuality,  casts  a 
shadow  over  the  purity  of  which  Dieterich  spoke.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  confirms  his  observations. 

Father-gods  abound  on  all  sides;  but  the  conception  of 
this  paternity  undergoes  a  curious  evolution.  Thus  we  may 
say  that  Zeus  pater,  the  Jupiter  of  the  ancients,  is  hardly 
anything  else  than  the  chief  of  the  cultural  community  and 
the  family  community;  his  is  a  vague  and  quite  general 
paternity.  The  concept  of  the  Earth  Mother,  which  one 
observes  in  so  many  religions,  also  has  at  the  beginning 
this  general  and  indeterminate  character.  But  little  by  little, 
and  particularly  in  the  Mysteries,  the  meaning  of  these 
words  father  and  mother,  applied  to  the  gods,  becomes  more 
precise  and  takes  on  a  more  strictly  passional,  a  more  emo- 
tional colour.    Examples  of  this  abound  in  these  cults. 

There  is  Mithra,  for  example,  who  appears  as  the  father 
of  the  initiate.  Porphyry  calls  him  "Mithra,  creator  of  all 
things  and  father."  In  the  liturgy  of  Mithra,  to  which  we 
have  already  alluded,  Helios,  who  speaks  in  the  name  of 
the  mystic,  presents  himself  to  Mithra  as  his  son  begotten 
to-day.  The  highest  grade  of  the  clergy,  those  who  are 
charged  with  receiving  the  initiates,  are  called  the  fathers 
(TraTeps?).  They  represent,  in  some  fashion,  the  paternity, 
of  the  god  himself. 

Then  there  is  Cybele.     The  Mother  of  the  gods,  the 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  MYSTERY-RELIGIONS       53 

Great  Mother,  more  and  more  attests  her  maternal  char- 
acter until,  at  the  moment  of  the  appearance  of  Christianity, 
she  can  be  assimilated  as  the  Virgin  Mother.  The  same 
is  true  of  Isis.^^  The  initiate  who  has  performed  the  sac- 
ramental rites  of  these  religions  is  convinced  that,  after 
having  passed  through  death,  he  will  be  united  with  the 
divinity  as  a  child  is  united  with  its  father  or  its  mother. 
The  question  is  no  longer  one  of  a  general,  universal  mater- 
nity. The  thought  has  evolved  under  the  influence  of  new 
sentiments  that  have  surged  up  in  the  hearts  of  the  initiates. 
They  want  to  be  assured  that  the  general  mother,  the  Earth, 
the  mother  of  all,  is  for  themselves  an  entirely  personal 
mother.  At  this  point  affectivity  enters  into  play,  in  the 
individual  emotional  life;  and  henceforth  the  family-com- 
plex, the  psychic  summary  of  this  life  in  infancy,  will  give 
its  special  stamp  to  the  new  conceptions  that  appear. 

It  often  happens,  for  example,  that  the  initiates  of  these 
communities  are  known  among  themselves  as  brothers;  this 
is  the  case  in  the  cult  of  Mithra,  it  is  the  case  with  the 
Serapeum  of  Memphis.  In  the  Phrygian  and  Lydian  in- 
scriptions one  often  finds  the  communities  designated  under 
the  name  of  ^jparpori  (brotherhoods). 

It  is  hardly  worth  while  to  point  out  how  marked  a 
parallel  this  paternal  and  filial  symbolism  has  in  Chris- 
tianity. We  may  cite  the  name  of  Father  applied  almost 
exclusively  by  Jesus  to  God;  the  name  brothers  adopted 
by  the  first  Christian  churches  in  order  to  designate  their 
members  before  they  assume  the  style  of  "Christians"  which 


13  Cf.  Drexler,  Isis,  in  Roscher's  Lexikon. 

Erman,  Die  agyptische  Religion,  igog. 

RoEDER,  Isis,  in  Pauly,  Real  Encyclop.  IX,  igi6. 

Benratts,  Zur  Geschicht-e  der  Marienverchrung,  Theol.  Studien  und 
Kritiken,  1886,  pp.  1-42. 

Reithmayr,  Art.  Maria  in  Wet  und  Welt  Kirchenlexikon,  VIII, 
1893,  p.  723- 

ZoECKLER,  Art.  Maria  in  Herzog  Realencyclop.  XII,  1903,  pp.  3i3-3iS- 


54  INTRODUCTION 

they  are  later  to  make  a  title  of  glory  and  honour;  the 
expression  Son,^  designating  Jesus  Christ;  the  relation  be- 
tween father  and  son  representing  the  ideal  of  the  perfect 
communion.  We  have  only  to  read  the  reply  of  Jesus  to 
Philip  in  Chap.  XIV,  v.  8,  of  the  Gospel  according  to  Saint 
John,  Chap.  VIII  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  Chaps.  Ill 
and  IV  of  that  to  the  Galatians,  to  have  an  idea  of  the 
place  which  the  symbols  of  father  and  son  occupy  in  the 
primitive  Christian  religion. 

Finally,  we  must  also  mention  a  Christian  custom  which 
is  interesting  from  this  point  of  view,  that  of  the  godparent. 
The  child  is  presented  for  baptism  by  a  godfather  and  a 
godmother  and  not  by  its  own  parents.  There  is  some- 
thing strange  in  this  which  may  well  have  come  from  the 
Mystery-Cults,  in  which  a  father,  that  is  an  old  initiate, 
presented  the  neophyte  and  performed  the  initiation  in 
turn.  What  is  interesting  here  is  that  this  paternal  re- 
lation was  taken  so  seriously  in  the  Church  that  the  Code 
of  Justinian  forbade  the  marriage  of  the  godmother  or  the 
godfather  with  the  godchild,  and  that  even  to-day  the 
Roman  catechism  regards  such  a  marriage  as  incestuous. 
We  have  here  a  striking  example  of  the  popular  tendency 
always  to  return  to  a  material  conception  of  the  spiritual 
relations  which  unite  human  beings.  From  the  notion  of 
a  Father  in  the  spirit  the  people  have  a  constant  propensity 
to  return  to  carnal  relations;  and  what  we  observe  so 
markedly  here  in  the  idea  of  the  godparent,  we  encounter 
again  in  the  idea  which  the  people  always  tend  to  form 
of  the  paternity  of  God.  It  is  this  tendency,  in  perpetual 
struggle  against  the  spiritualisation  of  the  symbols,  which 
leads  the  faithful  back  to  the  gross  and  earthy  conceptions 
of  the  family-complex. 

Let  us  now  try  to  form  an  idea  of  the  point  in  religious 
evolution  attained  in  the  Mystery-Cults.    It  is  very  difficult, 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  MYSTERY-RELIGIONS       55 

not  to  say  impossible,  to  mark  the  exact  limit  of  this.  We 
may,  however,  attempt  to  do  so  approximately.  We  have 
passed  the  stage  of  the  naturalistic  or  purely  agricultural 
conceptions.  The  father  and  the  mother,  Attis,  Cybele, 
Dionysus  or  Mithra,  Isis  and  Serapis  are  no  longer  fathers 
like  Zeus  or  mothers  like  the  primitive  Cybele.  On  the 
other  hand,  these  cults  are  strongly  tinged  with  sexuality. 
These  fathers  and  mothers  are  at  the  same  time  conceived 
of  as  lovers  and  mistresses.  The  beautiful  female  votaries 
of  Isis  see  her  at  times  as  the  eternal  mistress;  the  female 
adorers  of  Cybele  weep  for  the  death  of  Attis,  no  doubt 
joining  with  their  pious  tears  many  profane  memories.  It 
was  not  for  nothing  that  the  Fathers  of  the  Church  regarded 
these  cults  as  unworthy  of  Christian  purity.  They  repre- 
sent a  stage  of  psychism  in  which  the  sexual  and  the  re- 
ligious are  still  undifferentiated. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  are  also  traces  of  spirituality 
in  these  cults  which  on  certain  sides  render  them  greatly 
superior  to  those  which  preceded  them.  There  is  no  doubt 
that  certain  souls  who  participated  in  them  rose  to  a  fairly 
high  level  on  the  paths  of  sublimation.  They  were  them- 
selves on  the  boundary -line  where  the  choice  can  be  made. 
The  conception  we  find  in  them  of  the  gods  and  the  divine 
life  springs  at  once  from  the  infantile  family-complex  and 
from  this  complex  after  it  has  been  sublimated.  Their 
symbolic  figures  have,  as  we  have  seen,  a  double  meaning, 
and  can  thus  lead  their  votaries  much  higher  or  let  them 
down  to  a  lower  plane. 

4.  To  conceive  of  the  divinity  as  paternal  or  maternal 
and  of  the  faithful  as  occupying  a  filial  position  implies 
very  special  reciprocal  relations  which  influence  the  idea 
one  forms  of  the  union  with  God.  The  religious  com- 
munion, the  divine  life  will  gradually  come  to  be  considered 
as  the  result  of  a  new  birth  in  which  the  god  procreates 


56  INTRODUCTION 

the  believer.  The  paternal  notion  of  the  god  soon  brings 
in  its  train  the  idea  of  the  new  birth  as  the  centre  of  the 
life  of  piety.  This,  therefore,  is  the  central  conception 
which  one  finds  in  the  Mystery-Religions,  though  it  is  not, 
to  be  sure,  an  exclusive  property  of  theirs.  We  already 
find  the  idea  of  the  new  birth  in  the  primitive  religions: 
the  initiation  ceremonies  of  the  savages  reveal  its  elementary 
features.  To  become  an  effective  member  of  the  tribe  or 
the  clan,  one  has  to  die  and  be  reborn  to  a  new  life.  The 
young  man  is  put  to  death  symbolically;  then  there  are 
disclosed  to  him  those  secrets  that  awaken  one  to  the  new 
life."  These  symbols  of  a  new  birth  appear,  for  the  rest, 
as  we  follow  them  through  the  different  religions,  to  cor- 
respond to  the  three  stages  of  the  idea  which  we  have  already 
indicated.  In  the  beginning  they  seem  to  be  nothing  more 
than  naturalistic  symbols;  they  signify  the  births  and  deaths 
that  we  witness  in  nature  (winter,  summer,  etc.).  Then 
they  become  sexual;  the  natural  births  observed  in  the 
things  about  him  are  transferred  by  man  to  the  sphere  of 
the  interests  that  most  closely  touch  him.  The  divine  life 
is  conceived  as  a  human  life,  and  sexuality  plays  the  great 
role  in  it  (phallic  cults,  ideas  of  a  return  to  the  mother, 
hierogamies,  etc.).  But  the  life  of  the  spirit  grows  and 
raises  itself  upon  this  deep  foundation.  The  birth  becomes 
something  purely  spiritual,  a  pneumatic  act;  all  the  ten- 
dencies are  sublimated;  we  reach  the  idea  of  conversion, 
which  crowns  the  development. 

These  three  stages  are  perceptible  in  the  Mystery-Re- 
ligions; we  find  traces  of  them  here.  But  the  third  tends 
to  establish  itself  more  solidly  here  than  in  all  the  religions 
that  have  come  before.     In   the   Mystery-Religions   the 


1*  See  the  numerous  examples  which  Silberer  has  collected  in  his 
little  book  Durch  Tod  sum  Leben,  and  the  bibliography  below,  p.  263 
(note  9). 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  MYSTERY-RELIGIONS       57 

human  soul  finally  arrives  at  the  spiritual  conception  of 
the  new  birth  as  the  secret  of  the  union  with  the  god.  Attis, 
Mithra,  Dionysus  are  gods  who  die  and  rise  again,  and  the 
believer  dies  with  them  to  be  born  to  a  new  life.  The 
Epoptie,  the  supreme  initiation  of  the  Eleusinian  Mysteries, 
is  a  symbol  of  new  birth:  what  can  the  ear  of  wheat, 
plucked  in  silence  and  presented  to  the  initiate,  represent 
but  this  great  natural  fact  of  the  new  birth  which  the 
silence  and  the  plucking  transform  into  a  profound  phe- 
nomenon that  is  experienced  by  the  soul? 

Baptisms  of  water  and  blood,  sacred  feasts,  are  only  the 
means  of  arriving  at  this  new  life,  of  rendering  it  possible 
by  purification  from  old  stains  and  the  assimilation  of 
spiritual  food. 

To  find  a  god,  contact  with  whom  leads  one  to  this  death 
of  the  evil  instincts  and  this  resurrection  of  all  that  is 
spiritual  in  us,  is  the  unceasing  aspiration  which  shines  out 
through  the  evolution  of  religion  and  culminates  in  these 
Mystery-Cults,  in  which  at  last  it  creates  its  object  sym- 
bolically. The  gods  of  the  Mysteries  are  the  most  adequate 
symbols  that  paganism  could  find  to  respond  to  its  intense 
need  of  a  new  and  different  life. 

5.  But  this  is  not  all.  In  the  Mystery-Cults  we  find 
a  fifth  idea  forcibly  expressed,  and  this  is  precisely  that 
of  a  progressive  spiritualisation,  the  necessity  of  rising, 
mounting  in  order  to  unite  oneself  with  the  god,  of  not 
remaining  at  the  lower  stages  and  in  the  earthly  phase  of 
the  symbols.  This  subconscious  tendency,  which  stirred 
in  the  souls  of  the  believers  and  tormented  them,  unaware 
as  they  were  of  it,  took  shape  in  a  conception  which  we 
constantly  meet  with  in  the  depths  of  the  Greco-Roman 
paganism  of  the  Hellenistic  period:  this  is  the  idea  of  the 
ascension  of  the  soul  to  heaven.  i 

This  idea,  to  be  sure,  appears  in  much  more  ancient 


58  INTRODUCTION 

times,  but  never  with  such  clearness  and  such  insistence. 
The  ancient  Greeks  and  the  peoples  of  remote  antiquity 
already  knew  of  journeys  of  the  soul,  but  these  were  often 
journeys  to  the  infernal  regions,  descents  into  hell,  catabases, 
with  obstacles,  such  as  encounters  with  various  monsters, 
menaces  of  all  sorts,  the  crossing  of  the  bridge  of  the  dead 
or  the  passage  of  mysterious  rivers  on  foot  or  on  horseback. 
The  Babylonian  ^^  descent  of  Ishtar  into  hell  and  the  Egyp- 
tian Book  of  the  Dead  are  evidences  of  these  ideas.  They 
have,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  persisted  even  in  Christianity. 
Think  of  Dante's  Hell,  for  example,  followed  as  it  is,  of 
course,  by  Purgatory  and  the  ascension  into  heaven.  Dr. 
Maeder  has  expounded  its  significance  in  a  lecture  delivered 
at  the  Athenaeum  in  Geneva,  and  later  published  under  the 
title  Guirison  et  Evolution  dans  la  vie  de  I'dme.  (Rascher, 
Zurich,  1918.) 

That  a  journey  of  the  soul  is  necessary  is,  then,  the  primi- 
tive idea.  But  observe  its  development:  this  journey  is  a 
progress  upwards,  an  elevation,  an  ascension.  We  can  see 
this  development  even  among  the  primitive  peoples.  For 
example,  the  Winnipegs  of  America  imagine  that  the  soul 
mounts  to  paradise  by  the  Milky  Way.  Among  the  Greeks, 
the  Germans,  the  Hindus,  the  Iranians  there  exist  similar 
conceptions  and  symbols.  Very  often  there  appear  those 
of  the  ladder,  the  stairway,  or  the  mountain,  by  which  one 
reaches  heaven  (Jacob's  ladder,  the  Olympus  of  the  Greeks, 
the  stairway  with  seven  doors  in  the  liturgy  of  Mithra). 
At  times  a  charger  or  a  chariot  bears  the  hero  to  heaven 
in  a  whirlwind:  Bellerophon,  Pegasus,  Elijah  and  the  fiery 
horses;  sometimes  a  ship,  the  Egyptian  ship  of  the  sun; 
sometimes  it  is  a  bird  which  bears  the  soul  away  on  its 
wings:  we  find,  for  example,  that  in  the  initiation  into  the 

15  Cf.  Dhorme,  Paul,  Choix  de  textes  religieux  assyro-babyloniens, 
transcriptions,  traductions,  commentaire.  Paris,  Lecoffre,  1907,  pp.  326 
et  seqq. 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  MYSTERY-RELIGIONS       59 

cult  of  Mithra  one  of  the  orders  of  initiates  bears  the  name 
of  eagles. 

This  idea  of  a  necessary  ascension,  which  is  very  strongly 
marked  also  in  the  Gnostic  doctrines  (so  much  so  that  it 
was  made  the  centre  of  these  doctrines)/®  and  in  such 
liturgies  as  that  of  Mithra,  is  the  expression  of  the  tendency 
towards  sublimation.  To  the  forces  that  mount,  that  rise, 
that  ennoble  must  be  given  the  victory.  The  symbol  is 
at  first  uncertain;  it  is  simply  the  necessity  of  a  movement. 
Then  it  becomes  definite;  it  is  not  to  be  a  movement  down- 
ward, towards  the  infernal  regions,  but  upward,  towards 
heaven,  a  movement  hindered,  it  is  true,  by  obstacles,  such 
as  monsters  or  guarded  gates,  which  express  the  difficulties 
to  be  overcome  and  for  which  one  must  have  the  password. 
Then  at  last  it  becomes  spiritual  elevation  through  inner 
purity  and  the  sanctification  of  life.  In  Christianity,  this 
last  form  of  the  elevation  triumphs,  but  the  other,  the  more 
material  conceptions,  are  not  vanquished;  traces  of  them 
remain,  for  example,  in  the  Ascension  of  Jesus  Christ  and 
the  Assumption  of  the  Virgin.  There  still  exists  the  ten- 
dency to  replace  the  spiritual  by  the  material,  a  sublimation 
by  a  mounting  of  the  body  into  heaven.  But  none  the  less, 
the  symbol  helps  souls  that  are  open  to  the  Spirit  to  grasp 
the  meaning  of  the  mystic  elevation. 

§  3.     DIFFERENCE   IN   THE  OUTCOME   OF   THE  TWO 
PROPHETIC  LINES 

Briefly  to  sum  up  what  we  have  just  stated,  we  observe 
that  there  exists  what  I  have  called  the  prophetic  line, 
which  can  be  discerned  in  paganism  and  which  ends  in  the 
prodigious  and  at  the  same  time  disconcerting  efflorescence 

18  Cf.  Anz,  Wilhelm,  Zur  Frage  nach  dem  Ursprung  des  Gnostizis- 
mus  ein  religionsgeschichtlicher  Versuch.  Leipzig,  Heinrichssche 
Buchh.,  1897, 


6o  INTRODUCTION 

of  the  Mystery-Cults.  The  study  of  their  symbolism  and 
their  liturgy,  their  rites  and  ceremonies  reveal  to  us  in  these 
cults  the  culmination  of  a  psychological  development  in 
which  the  deepest  impulses  and  subconscious  desires  of 
humanity,  cultivated  from  the  earliest  times,  have  played 
their  part.  Now  this  development,  in  which  are  united  all 
the  most  contradictory  psychic  tendencies  that  stir  in  the 
depths  of  the  human  soul,  succeeds  nevertheless  in  deter- 
mining certain  of  the  broad  lines  of  the  ideal  towards  which, 
with  all  its  forces,  the  religious  psyche  aspires.  These  broad 
lines,  so  far  as  we  have  been  able  to  grasp  them,  may  be 
grouped  under  the  form  of  the  following  desires: 

1.  That  there  shall  be  several  gods  or  one  god  with  whom 
man  may  unite  himself  in  a  fashion  that  is  at  once  intimate 
and,  as  it  were,  substantial,  a  union  like  that  of  nourishment 
with  him  who  is  nourished  by  it;  that  the  god  shall  enter 
the  man  in  some  sort  of  physical  way. 

2.  That  this  union  shall  also  resemble  that  of  love,  in 
which  the  personalities  melt  one  into  the  other  (sexual 
union). 

3.  That  these  relations  between  the  man  and  the  god 
shall  assume  the  character  of  a  filial  and  paternal  kinship. 

4.  That  this  religious  relation  shall  end  in  a  new  life 
that  is  like  a  new  birth. 

5.  Finally,  that  this  whole  process  may  partake  of  the 
nature  of  sublimation,  that  it  may  constitute  a  rise,  an  ele- 
vation towards  the  heights,  an  ascension  from  earth  to 
heaven. 

Such  is  the  deep  desire,  the  aspiration,  multiple  in  its 
symbols  but  one  at  its  source,  which  reaches  its  consumma- 
tion in  the  Mystery-Cults.  It  satisfies  itself,  or  rather  seeks 
to  express  itself,  in  the  creation  of  divine  figures,  divine 
personalities  borrowed  from  the  ancient  cults,  but  trans- 
formed into  the  image  of  those  subconscious  desires  which 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  MYSTERY-RELIGIONS       6i 

man  preserves  alive  within  him.  He  creates,  or  rather  he 
imagines,  the  gods  of  which  he  has  need  after  ancient  models 
that  serve  him  as  a  foundation,  but  he  endows  them  with 
features  that  respond  to  the  inner  urge  that  animates  him. 
Many  of  these  features  are  still  soiled  with  the  mud  and  the 
clay  that  cling  to  what  is  most  alive  within  us,  as  the  vein- 
stone clings  to  the  diamond;  but  in  them  also,  here  and 
there,  are  the  adamantine  lights  that  shine  over  these  divine 
faces  and  animate  them. 

We  are  still,  however,  in  the  region  of  dreams;  they  are 
artificial  creations,  these  gods;  we  have  never  encountered 
them  along  the  roads  of  humanity;  they  are  factitious;  they 
are  like  the  messianic  figures  of  prophecy  in  which  nothing 
yet  corresponds  with  historic  reality.  The  symbols  that 
express  the  strongest  subconscious  aspirations  of  the  soul 
have  been  attached,  as  it  were,  to  the  ancient,  mythical 
beings  in  an  endeavour  to  galvanise  them,  to  stamp  them 
with  the  effigy  of  human  desire;  but  that  is  alll  Lacking 
in  themselves  the  force  of  faith,  the  power  of  hope  necessary 
to  enable  them  to  await  stout-heartedly  the  future  appear- 
ance of  the  god  in  whom  they  believe,  the  pagans  projected 
into  the  past  the  figure  of  the  god  they  desired.  They  pre- 
ferred to  imagine  that  he  had  already  lived;  and  thus  they 
escaped  the  poignant  torments  of  faith,  which  relies  upon 
the  future  for  certitude,  and  took  hold  of  it  at  once. 

In  this  lies  the  great,  the  noteworthy,  difference  between 
Hebrew  prophecy  and  what  we  might  call  the  prophetic 
development  of  Greco-Roman  paganism.  In  both  the 
human  soul  laboured  according  to  the  same  laws;  in  both 
the  deep  vital  urge  that  calls  upon  a  god  manifested  itself 
along  the  same  lines,  modelling  messianic  figures.  But  in 
the  Jewish  line  there  appeared,  at  a  certain  moment  in  the 
history  of  the  race,  a  historic  personality  who  gathered  up 
in  himself  the  lines  that  had  been  sketched  prophetically 


62  INTRODUCTION 

and  found  in  himself  the  secret  of  living  and  the  strength 
to  live  the  highest  and  the  most  divine  conceptions  of  his 
race,  to  desire  to  realise  them  and  to  offer  himself  towards 
their  realisation.  There  appeared  among  the  Jews  a  man 
who,  thanks  to  circumstances  which  we  do  not  have  to  ana- 
lyse and  a  strength  of  which,  for  the  moment,  we  do  not 
have  to  ask  the  secret,  lived  the  life  of  the  foretold  Messiah. 
This  heroic  achievement,  for  the  rest,  broke  him  and  killed 
him;  for  in  the  midst  of  a  world  attached  to  evil,  he  cast 
off  all  the  lower  traits  of  the  figure  that  had  been  dreamed 
of,  so  as  to  realise  only  its  sublimity." 

In  the  line  of  Hellenistic  paganism  no  personality  is  to  be 
found  who  takes  it  upon  itself  to  be  the  expected  Saviour. 
Why?  We  do  not  have  to  inquire  into  this.  We  may  never 
know  perhaps;  the  fact  remains  simply  to  be  stated.  Along 
this  line  the  dream  remained  a  dream,  which  was  never  out- 
wardly translated  save  through  the  expressive  symbolism 
of  the  Mystery-Cults.  No  one  projected  into  an  actual  life 
what  the  human  soul  chanted  prophetically  in  the  depths 
of  itself.  No  one  appeared  who  could  pass  through  the 
sieve  of  reality  the  vital  elements  of  this  dream  and  its 
morbid  elements.  Its  elements,  undifferentiated,  affirmed 
themselves  in  symbols  which,  in  their  turn,  were  undiffer- 
entiated. In  the  final  reckoning,  if  Christianity  triumphed 
it  was  because  Jesus  Christ  lived.^* 

One  word  more!  Christianity  triumphed,  we  have  said, 
because  Jesus  Christ  lived;  it  is  in  the  secret  of  the  per- 
sonal life  that  the  triumph  of  the  Christian  salvation,  of 
the  Christian  religion,  consists.  But  because  Jesus  lived 
and  triumphed  it  does  not  mean  that  henceforth,  in  some 

17  Here  we  arrive,  in  the  last  analysis,  at  the  mystery  of  personality. 
And  it  is  in  this  that  the  whole  Christian  revelation  consists.  The 
latter  is  entirely  summed  up  in  the  mystery  of  a  personality. 

1^  This  fact  and  this  contrast,  in  themselves  alone,  seem  to  me  more 
striking  than  all  the  dogmatic  definitions  with  which  Christian  piety 
has  sought  to  glorify  the  figure  of  Christ. 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  MYSTERY-RELIGIONS       63 

magic  way,  all  men  are  going  to  live,  that  all  are  to  be 
necessarily  participants,  and  exclusively  participants,  of  the 
Spirit  which  triumphed  in  him.  In  reality,  as  we  observe, 
the  baser  tendencies  which  manifested  themselves  before 
him,  in  the  constitution  of  the  Mystery-Cults,  for  example, 
were  not  sublimated  at  once  in  all  men  by  the  fact  that  a 
life  had  carried  them  in  itself  to  sublimation.  If  the  summit 
was  reached  in  the  life  of  Christ,  if  the  deification  of  life 
took  place  in  full  view  of  humanity,  this  fact  is  far  too 
spiritual  to  imply  any  sort  of  prestidigitation,  any  new 
magic,  by  which,  artificially  and  at  a  single  stroke,  men 
are  to  become  divine.  The  struggle  remains ;  man  continues 
to  be  what  he  has  been;  he  has  not  been  stripped  of  his 
flesh  because  Jesus  gave  his  own.  Human  psychology  has 
not  changed,  and  consequently  the  psychic  energies  retain 
their  ambivalence,  their  opposite  polarisations. 

We  see  in  Christ  a  victory  and  triumph,  but  not  in  the 
Christianity  that  followed.  Little  by  little  there  reappeared 
at  the  heart  of  the  new  religion  all  the  tendencies  which 
had  played  their  part  in  the  others.  In  the  rites,  in  the 
very  sacraments  of  Christianity,  in  its  dogmas  as  well  as 
its  doctrines,  and  very  quickly  indeed,  in  the  very  first 
centuries,  these  deforming  elements  began  to  operate.  The 
person  of  Christ  himself  became  a  symbol,  instead  of  re- 
maining the  reality  that  had  been  lived;  in  the  heart  of 
the  Christian  communities  people  again  began  to  dream  and 
talk  of  the  redemption  instead  of  living  it.  They  made  a 
mythical  figure  of  Jesus,  a  Mystery-god  like  the  others; 
they  debased  him  to  the  level  of  the  others,  almost  un- 
awares, and  supposing  that  they  were  honouring  him  the 
more.  Hence  the  type  of  Christianity  which  the  Roman 
Empire  bequeathed  to  us  and  in  the  meshes  of  which  we 
have  not  yet  ceased  to  struggle.  All  the  historical  criticism 
we  have,  and  all  the  exegesis,  and  the  efforts  of  a  discern- 


64  INTRODUCTION 

ing  psychology  in  addition,  are  scarcely  enough  to  enable 
us  to  rediscover,  beneath  these  deteriorations,  the  living 
Christ  as  he  was  in  life.  We  cannot  open  this  chapter 
here  or  examine  primitive  Christianity  from  the  point  of 
view  of  the  psychic  tendencies  which  appear  in  it.  This 
would  be  an  immense  task  and  one  of  the  highest  interest, 
but  I  can  only  call  attention  to  it  here.  But  let  us  boldly 
affirm  that  what  bears  the  name  of  Christian  to-day  is 
nevertheless  not  all  of  Christ.  The  fact,  which  has  often 
been  stated  (several  contemporary  men  of  letters  have  al- 
ready remarked  upon  it)^^  that  paganism  has  had  its  re- 
venges in  the  very  heart  of  Christianity,  may  not  be  exactly 
true,  but  it  is  almost  true.^"  It  would  be  more  accurate  to 
say  that  the  carnal  tendencies  which  prevailed  in  so  many 
of  the  pagan  religions  have  not  ceased  to  influence  men 
because  Christ  has  lived.  They  have  been  sublimated  in  a 
few  individuals  and  some  of  them  have  been  sublimated  in 
all  of  us,  but  the  others  continue  their  work;  and  the  Chris- 
tian struggle  consists  in  a  constant  effort  towards  an  always 
more  complete  sublimation.  We  are  engaged  in  this  process, 
which  ever  continues.  But  the  lived  reality  still  exists;  and 
it  is  to  this,  to  the  life  of  Jesus,^^  that  we  shall  now  turn. 

19  Cf.  Barres,  La  grande  pitie  des  Eglises  d-e  France.  Paris,  Emile- 
Paul,  1914. 

RoMAiN-RoLLAND,  Colas  BreugnoH.     Paris,  Ollendorff    (pp.  56,  69). 

20  Cf.  Lucius,  Die  Anfdnge  des  Heiligenkults  in  der  christlichen 
Kirche,  1904. 

Saintyves,  p.,  Les  Saints,  successeurs  des  dieux,  1907. 

21  This  life  constitutes,  we  are  convinced,  the  point  of  departure 
and  the  most  powerful  force  that  has  ever  been  given  to  human  in- 
dividuals to  assist  them  m  effectuating  the  sublimation  towards  which 
they  aspire.  What  was  lived  here  does  not  die.  The  life  of  Jesus  is 
an  afinirmation  and  a  demonstration  of  the  sublimation  of  the  human  in- 
stincts towards  the  divine,  and  in  consequence  an  inalienable  guaranty, 
inscribed  in  history,  which  allows  us  never  to  despair  of  the  struggle 
and  furnishes  us  with  a  sure  foundation  for  it.  The  life  of  Christ 
thus  introduces  into  the  world  new  values  which  nothing  can  ever 
again  wrest  from  humanity.  In  this  sense,  it  modifies  even  the  psy- 
chology of  man,  or  rather  adds  to  it  a  new  dynamic  which,  without 
changing  the  internal  mechanism,  permits  him  to  transcend  limits  that 
he  could  not  transcend  otherwise. 


CHAPTER  III 
THE  DOCUMENTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

Before  we  plunge  into  our  subject,  there  is  one  more 
question  which  demands  our  attention,  that  of  the  sources 
we  possess  on  the  life  of  Jesus.  Are  they  sufficient?  Do 
they  bring  before  our  eyes  an  image  of  Christ  which  cor- 
responds to  the  lived  reality?  For  more  than  a  century 
this  point  has  been  an  endless  bone  of  contention  among 
the  theologians  and  a  whole  literature  has  sprung  from  the 
divergences  of  opinion  to  which  it  has  given  rise.  The 
question  is  now  far  enough  advanced  for  us  to  be  able  to 
sum  up  the  debate.  I  shall  do  this  very  rapidly,  so  as  to 
be  able  to  determine  later  the  attitude  that  we  shall  take 
towards  the  evangelical  documents. 

In  the  way  of  sources  of  the  life  of  Jesus,  we  have  vir- 
tually nothing  aside  from  the  New  Testament.  The  Roman 
historians  yield  us  one  very  obscure  allusion  of  Suetonius 
in  the  biography  of  Claudius  and  the  celebrated  passage 
in  the  Annals  of  Tacitus  (xv,  44)  in  which  this  historian 
speaks  of  the  sect  of  the  Christians  whom  Nero,  in  the 
year  64,  in  order  to  divert  from  himself  the  suspicion  of 
the  masses,  accused  of  having  burned  Rome.  "The  origi- 
nator of  this  sect,"  he  says,  "was  Christ,  who  was  executed 
under  the  emperor  Tiberius  Caesar  by  the  procurator  Pon- 
tius Pilate."    That  is  all. 

Among  the  Jewish  writers,  we  may  cite  Flavius  Josephus 
as  referring  (Ant.  XVIII,  iii,  3)  to  Jesus;  it  is  generally 
held  to-day,  however,  that  the  passages  in  which  he  is  men- 
tioned are  later  interpolations  by  a  Christian  hand.^     As 

1  This,  however,  was  not  the  opinion  of  Renan  (Vie  de  Jesus,  introd. 
p.  xl)  who  regards  the  passage  as  authentic. 

65 


66  INTRODUCTION 

for  the  rabbis  of  the  period  that  followed,  they  afford  us 
nothing  but  a  malignant  caricature  of  a  few  passages  of 
the  gospel  tradition.  Thus  there  is  little  or  no  information 
concerning  Jesus  to  be  derived  from  profane  history.  His 
existence  is  affirmed  by  Tacitus,  but  we  are  furnished  with 
no  details  in  regard  to  his  life. 

1.  Passing  to  the  New  Testament,  we  are  confronted 
first  with  Saint  Paul  and  his  epistles.  Here  we  find  a 
certain  amount  of  precise  though  not  very  full  information 
about  the  earthly  life  of  Jesus  Christ,  not  enough,  however, 
to  give  us  a  general  impression  of  what  he  was.  What  con- 
cerned Saint  Paul  first  and  foremost  was  a  mystical  ex- 
perience of  the  presence  of  the  spiritual  Christ  in  himself, 
and  he  does  not  feel  that  it  is  necessary  to  speak  to  people 
who  were,  after  all,  quite  familiar  with  them,  of  the  details 
of  the  terrestrial  life  of  his  Saviour."  Nevertheless,  he  says 
enough  for  us  to  be  certain  that  we  are  dealing  with  some 
one  who  has  really  lived.  The  attempt  of  Drews  to  show 
that  in  the  Christ  of  Paul  we  have  a  creation  of  the  apostle's 
imagination  after  the  model  of  the  pagan  Saviour-god  who 
dies  and  is  born  again — all  this  translated  into  the  terms 
of  Jewish  thought — does  not  hold  water. 

2.  Finally,  we  come  to  the  four  gospels,  which  constitute 
the  essential  and  principal  documents  of  the  life  of  Jesus. 
A  first  remark  bearing  on  the  quality  of  these  documents. 
They  are  not  historical  in  the  proper  sense  of  the  word; 
that  is,  it  was  not  the  intention  of  their  authors  to  produce 
disinterested  history,  with  a  primary  concern  for  historic 
exactitude.  They  may  be  described  much  more  truly  as 
works  of  edification.  They  endeavour  to  give  an  image 
of  Christ  that  will  satisfy  the  faith  of  the  already  existing 
Christian  communities.  They  claim  the  honour  of  present- 
ing to  the  churches  the  Saviour  in  whom  they  already  be- 

2Cf.  II  Cor.  V,  i6. 


THE  DOCUMENTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS       67 

lieve.  This  purpose  was  quite  sufficient  for  the  believers; 
they  found  in  the  gospels  an  image  of  Christ  that  was  en- 
tirely adequate  to  their  faith.  Does  it,  however,  suffice 
also  for  people  who  desire  to  know  what  Jesus  was  like 
historically?  This  is  the  question  that  has  to  be  met,  and 
it  is  this  that  has  opened  the  flood-gates  of  historical  criti- 
cism and  given  rise  to  the  problem  of  the  gospels. 

We  must  bear  in  mind  the  fact  that  at  the  period  when 
the  gospels  appeared,  profane  history  itself  was  not  written 
as  it  is  in  our  day.  People  did  not  aspire  to  exactitude 
as  their  first  object;  they  wrote  the  history  of  the  past 
with  an  eye  to  the  lessons  which  their  contemporaries  might 
draw  from  it.  The  evangelists  were  not  exceptions  to  the 
general  rule,  and  we  cannot  blame  them  for  not  having  told 
us  what  we  should  like  to  know  to-day  in  order  to  establish 
on  a  surer  basis  our  own  religious  certitudes. 

In  order  to  extract  from  these  designedly  edifying  writ- 
ings the  historical  kernel  which  they  appear  to  contain, 
people  have  endeavoured,  therefore,  to  analyse  their  struc- 
ture and  fix  the  date  of  their  appearance  and  the  reciprocal 
influence  which  they  had  one  upon  another.  This  effort 
has  given  birth  to  two  problems:  the  synoptic  problem,  and 
the  problem  of  the  Gospel  of  John.  It  was  very  quickly 
perceived  that  the  three  first  gospels,  those  of  Matthew, 
Mark,  and  Luke,  presented  so  many  points  in  common  that 
they  had  to  be  envisaged  together,  considered  together. 
Hence  the  name  that  has  been  given  them  of  the  synoptic 
gospels. 

The  resemblance  of  these  three  gospels  is  immediately 
apparent  even  to  the  most  inattentive  reader.  We  find 
almost  the  entire  gospel  of  Mark,  with  the  exception  of 
only  thirty-five  verses,  in  that  of  Matthew;  with  the  ex- 
ception of  ninety  verses  only,  we  find  it  again  in  the  gospel 
of  Luke.     The  stories  which  these  three  gospels  narrate 


68  INTRODUCTION 

are  therefore  virtually  the  same.  Moreover,  the  order  of 
these  narratives  is  often  parallel;  the  very  words  are  the 
same;  entire  phrases  read  identically  in  the  three  gos- 
pels, or  in  two  of  them.  In  other  respects,  they  present 
appreciable  differences  which  give  to  each  its  own  char- 
acter. 

How  are  we  to  explain  these  resemblances  and  these  dif- 
ferences? Several  hypotheses  have  been  advanced,  which 
I  cannot  think  of  discussing  thoroughly  here. 

It  has  been  thought  that  this  identity  and  these  variations 
could  be  explained  by  the  oral  tradition.  The  stories  that 
were  current  about  Jesus  were  evidently  repeated  orally, 
for  a  time,  before  they  were  written  down.  But  how  is  it 
possible  that  such  a  constant  choice  should  have  operated 
among  the  immense  number  of  anecdotes  that  must  have 
been  told  about  him?  How  could  people  have  agreed  always 
to  write  down  the  same  things  to  the  exclusion  of  others? 
If  the  three  evangelists  had  had  as  a  source  nothing  but  the 
oral  tradition,  why  should  they  have  chosen  exactly  the 
same  tales?  It  is  impossible  to  suppose  that  this  accord 
could  have  been  the  result  of  chance.  Consequently,  we 
had  to  look  for  another  explanation. 

It  was  thus  that  the  theory  of  sources  was  arrived  at. 
The  gospels  were  evidently  interdependent.  But  which  of 
them  was  the  earliest,  from  which  the  others  chiefly  drew? 
It  was  supposed  at  first  that  Matthew  and  Luke  had  existed 
before  Mark.^  But  this  hypothesis  has  now  been  com- 
pletely abandoned.  It  is  generally  held  to-day  that  Mark, 
on  the  contrary,  is  the  source  of  the  two  others,  or  at  least 
one  of  the  sources. 

Now  Mark  presents  only  one  or  two  passages  that  are 
not  contained  in  Matthew  and  Luke;  these  are  Mark  iv, 

3  Cf.  Baur,  Kritische  Untersuchungen  iiber  den  kanonischen  Evan- 
gelien,  1847. 


THE  DOCUMENTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS       69 

26-29,  the  parable  of  the  seed;  Mark  vii,  32-37,  the  healing 
of  a  deaf  man;  Mark  viii,  22-28,  the  blind  man  of  Beth- 
saida.  If  Mark  had  written  his  gospel  with  Matthew  and 
Luke  before  his  eyes,  we  cannot  well  see  what  he  would 
have  wished  to  do,  since  he  had  nothing  to  add.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  priority  of  Mark  is  inferred  from  the 
Aramaic  character  of  his  style,  from  the  fact  that  he  is 
the  simplest  narrator  of  the  three  and  the  most  popular 
narrator,  innocent  of  all  art,  while  in  Matthew  and  Luke 
we  are  often  aware  of  a  rehandling,  an  arrangement  of  the 
text  of  Mark.  The  latter  suppress  the  Arameanisms  and 
the  conjunction  "and,"  which  bestrews  the  text  of  Mark, 
and  they  abridge. 

I  have  not  the  time  to  dwell  upon  this  discussion,  all  the 
details  of  which  may  be  found  in  the  special  writings  of  the 
theologians.  I  hasten  to  arrive  at  a  second  point,  which 
is  this:  whence  did  Matthew  and  Luke  derive  what  they 
did  not  find  in  Mark?  It  is  generally  agreed  to-day  that 
there  was  another  source  than  Mark,  known  to  both  Mat- 
thew and  Luke.  In  fact,  Matthew  and  Luke  have  several 
passages  in  common  which  do  not  come  from  Mark  and 
which  especially  relate  the  sayings  of  Jesus.  Now,  as  these 
two  gospels  were  written  independently  of  one  another,  they 
must  have  derived  these  passages  from  a  common  source. 
The  researches  of  the  theologians  seem  to  show  that  Luke 
inserted  these  sayings,  which  were  drawn  from  the  common 
source,  successively  from  Chap.  IX,  v.  51  to  Chap.  XVIII, 
v.  14  of  his  gospel.  Matthew,  on  the  other  hand,  inserted 
them  in  various  places.  Such  are  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount, 
the  relations  of  Jesus  with  the  Baptist,  the  missionary  dis- 
courses, the  polemical  discourses,  those  that  treat  of  the 
duties  of  the  disciples  and  the  eschatological  discourses  at 
the  end.  It  is  probable  that  this  collection  of  sayings  was 
put  into  writing  by  Matthew  himself.    Hence  the  name  of 


70  INTRODUCTION 

the  Logia  of  Matthew  which  is  sometimes  given  it;  the 
theologians  designate  this  source  by  the  letter  Q.  It  forms, 
then,  together  with  the  gospel  of  Mark,  one  of  the  original 
bases  of  our  synoptics,  and  it  certainly  issued  from  the 
first  Christian  community  which,  from  the  beginning,  had 
preserved  orally  these  discourses  of  Jesus. 

In  the  following  words,  M.  Rene  Guisan  summed  up  in 
1905  these  results  of  the  comparative  study  of  the  texts 
of  the  first  three  gospels,  which  are  called  synoptic  because 
of  their  numerous  points  of  contact: 

"Mark  is  the  most  ancient  of  the  three  gospels;  it  served 
as  a  common  source  for  Luke  and  Matthew.  These  latter, 
in  addition,  and  independently  of  one  another,  drew  from 
another  source,  likewise  written  in  Greek  and  principally 
composed  of  fragments  of  the  discourses  of  Jesus  (the  Logia 
or  source  Q).  Finally,  there  must  be  mentioned  a  source 
peculiar  to  Luke  and  Matthew,  or  rather  certain  floating 
traditions  which  they  gathered  and  incorporated  as  well  as 
they  could  in  the  body  of  the  gospels  proper." 

"As  for  the  fourth  gospel,"  he  adds,  "whatever  opinion 
we  may  hold  as  to  its  origins  and  its  documentary  value, 
it  is  agreed  that  we  find  here  a  type  of  tradition  which  is 
later  than  the  synoptic  type."  * 

These  remarks,  which  state  very  clearly  the  present  posi- 
tion of  the  investigations  on  the  subject,  bring  us  face  to 
face  with  two  or  three  important  facts: 

1.  Mark  is  the  oldest  of  the  three  gospels. 

2 .  Luke  and  Matthew  made  use  of  sources  that  were  still 
older. 

3.  To  these  must  be  added  the  fact  that  all  three  date 
from  a  period  about  forty  years  distant  from  the  death 
of  Jesus  and  make  use  of  data  preserved  by  oral  or  written 

*  Guisan,  R.,  Jesus  et  la  tradition  evangelique,  Sainte-Croix,  1905. 
Bulletin  of  the  Association  chretienne  Suisse  d'etudiants. 


THE  DOCUMENTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS       71 

tradition  with  the  purpose  of  conlirming  the  first  communi- 
ties in  the  faith  which  they  already  had  in  Jesus. 

The  synoptics  themselves  are  not  therefore  a  source  con- 
temporaneous with  Jesus;  they  utilise  oral  and  written 
sources  which  are  older  than  themselves  and  of  which  all 
trace  has  been  lost.  To  arrive  at  the  true  story  of  Jesus, 
we  should  have  to  possess  this  primitive  oral  tradition,  and 
to  possess  it  free  from  all  the  legendary  alloy  that  com- 
plicates and  amplifies  popular  traditions  while  they  are  in 
process  of  formation.  And  this  is  not  the  case.  We  have 
in  the  synoptic  gospels  the  echo  of  a  tradition  of  Jesus 
that  was  already  charged  with  these  more  or  less  legendary 
elements  of  which,  owing  to  the  eagerness  that  people 
always  felt  to  know  more  about  the  Lord  whom  they  loved, 
the  origin  was  not  on  all  occasions  verified.  Even  in  Mark, 
in  which  people  have  long  thought  they  discerned  the  most 
faithful  account  of  the  life  of  Jesus,  there  is  no  chronology, 
or  hardly  any.  Each  of  the  evangelists  grouped  the  facts 
of  the  life  of  Jesus,  not  according  to  their  real  sequence, 
but  according  to  the  particular  impression  which  he  wished 
to  give  of  his  activity. 

In  general,  then,  we  may  affirm  that  the  synoptic  gospels 
give  us,  not  the  exact  and  literal  story  of  Christ  as  he  was 
in  life,  but  the  idea  and  the  image  which  the  Christian  com- 
munities formed  of  Christ  in  the  years  50  to  70  of  our  era.° 

As  for  the  gospel  of  John,  the  date  of  the  appearance  of 
which  is  generally  fixed  between  the  years  100  and  150,  it 
is  difficult  to  attribute  its  composition  to  the  disciple  of 

s  Cf.  in  H.  Weinel,  Die  Gleichmsse  Jesu,  Leipzig,  Teubner,  1905, 
the  following  lines :  "We  may  say  as  follows  apropos  of  the  gospels  and 
the  reading  of  them : 

"i.    Similar  passages  should  be  read  together  and  compared. 

"2.  If  a  passage  is  found  in  only  one  of  the  gospels,  there  is  no 
reason  for  considering  it  less  authentic  or  less  ancient  than  if  it  were 
in  all  three.  If  a  passage  is  repeated  in  all  three,  this  merely  means 
that  it  came  from  Mark;  if  it  is  in  two  gospels  only  it  came  from  the 


72  INTRODUCTION 

Jesus,  John  the  apostle,  but  it  is  not  impossible  to  see  in 
it  an  echo  of  his  teaching.  Its  character  is  even  more 
polemical  and  edifying  than  that  of  the  others.  It  gives 
us  the  image  of  Christ  as  seen  through  a  soul  of  flame  which 
had  undergone  the  experience  of  communing  with  him  and 
had  witnessed  his  sufferings.  But  no  more  than  the  others 
does  it  permit  us  to  grasp,  in  exact  everyday  detail,  all 
that  made  up  the  historic  life  of  Jesus.  More  than  the 
others,  however,  it  allows  us  to  pass  into  a  certain  intimacy 
with  the  Saviour's  person,  at  least  as  this  was  understood 
and  felt  by  one  of  his  disciples  whose  mystical  nature  and 
gentle,  pious  temperament  were  of  a  special  and  highly 
characteristic  sort.  Here  once  more,  then,  we  are  dealing 
not  with  a  primitive  but  with  a  derived  source.  Only,  while 
with  the  synoptics  the  derivation  came  through  the  general 
and  collective  experience  of  the  primitive  Christian  com- 
munity as  a  whole,  with  John  it  came  through  the  very 
individual  experience  of  a  soul  that  was  particularly  fitted 
to  grasp  certain  features  of  the  beloved  personality,  I  shall 
not  say  to  the  exclusion  of  others,  but  in  preference  to 
others,  which  thus  fall  into  the  shadow  and  are  forgotten. 

On  the  other  hand,  as  Stapfer  has  pointed  out,  the  author 
of  the  fourth  gospel  knows,  in  their  smallest  details,  a 
great  many  facts  about  the  life  of  Jesus  which  are  quite 
indisputable,  quite  authentic,  and  which  the  authors  of  the 
first  three  have  entirely  ignored. 

"He  gives  us,"  Stapfer  adds,^  "a  picture  of  the  life  of 

Logia  as  a  source;  if  it  is  in  only  one  of  the  gospels,  this  may  mean 
that  it  has  been  added  by  the  evangelist  (or  a  later  editor)  ;  but  it  is 
also  possible  that  it  comes  from  an  old  and  reliable  tradition.  It 
may  be  considered  an  addition  on  the  part  of  the  evangelist  if  he  merely 
amplifies  by  a  brief  phrase  or  so  a  passage  which  the  others  share 
with  him.     In  such  cases  it  is  difficult  to  believe  in  a  special  tradition. 

"3.  If  we  wish  to  know  what  Jesus  really  said  we  must  go  behind 
our  gospels  to  their  sources."  (p.  44.) 

6  Staffer,  Ed.,  Jesus-Christ  pendant  son  ministhe.  Paris,  Fisch- 
bacher,  1897,  vol.  II ;  introd.  pp.  xxiii-xxv. 


THE  DOCUMENTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS       73 

Jesus  that  is  much  better  than  theirs.  They  mention  only 
one  journey  of  Jesus  Christ  to  Jerusalem,  a  thing  that  is 
more  than  improbable,  that  is  impossible.  On  this  point, 
the  author  of  the  fourth  gospel  diverges  from  them,  men- 
tioning several  of  these  journeys,  because  he  is  more  faith- 
ful and  knows  the  facts  better. 

"The  fourth  gospel  is  thus  full  of  personal  memories 
which  it  is  impossible  to  disregard.^  Its  account  of  the  Pas- 
sion, to  choose  but  a  single  example,  is  the  most  living  of 
the  four,  and,  among  other  details  that  are  marvellous  in 
their  veracity,  the  character  of  Pilate  is  admirably  depicted 
here.  .  .  .  Thus  this  book,  which  is  not  a  history  of  Jesus 
Christ  (it  is  too  dogmatic,  on  the  one  hand,  and  too  frag- 
mentary on  the  other  for  this),  is  nevertheless  a  very  accu- 
rate document  to  consult  for  knowledge  of  the  life  of  Jesus." 

To  conclude,  the  synoptics  are  more  nearly  of  the  nature 
of  history;  John,  whoever  may  have  been  actually  the  final 
redactor  of  this  gospel,^  is  closer  to  the  person  of  Christ. 
Through  the  synoptics  we  are  able  to  reconstitute  more 
exactly  the  life  of  Jesus  as  it  was  seen  from  the  outside; 

^  Stapfer  attributes  the  fourth  gospel  to  John  the  Apostle.  We  are 
free  to  disagree  with  him  without  rejecting  all  of  his  arguments. 

s  The  question  of  the  composition  of  the  gospel  of  John  is  difficult 
to  solve.  Exegetical  researches  lead  to  the  admission  of  a  relatively- 
late  date  which  excludes  the  possibility  that  the  manuscript,  as  it  has 
come  down  to  us,  might  have  been  composed  by  the  Apostle  John. 
On  the  other  hand,  as  Stapfer  points  out,  certain  chronological  details 
seem  to  militate  in  favour  of  an  eye-witness.  Finally,  the  emotional 
vibration  that  makes  itself  felt  through  these  pages,  the  joy  of  a  moral 
and  religious  discovery,  the  note  of  an  immediate  personal  contact  with 
Christ  are  undeniable.  We  cheerfully  yield  to  the  hypothesis  of  an 
author  who  must  have  lived  in  complete  intimacy  with  the  apostle 
John  and  who,  enjoying  a  very  different  philosophical  culture,  neverthe- 
less respected  so  profoundly  the  living  experience  which  he  saw  in  his 
friend  that  he  endeavoured  to  convey  all  his  spontaneity  in  his  writing, 
without,  however,  being  able  at  times  to  avoid  translating  this  ex- 
perience according  to  the  categories  of  his  own  spirit.  The  author  of 
the  gospel  of  John  appears  to  us  to  be  an  intellectual  who  makes  a 
deep  obeisance  before  the  religious  experience  of  a  humble  man  of 
which  he  desires  to  communicate  to  others  the  power  that  has  saved 
himself. 


74  INTRODUCTION 

through  John  vv^e  are  able  to  form  a  much  better  idea  of 
certain  features  of  his  essential  personality. 

But  the  question  that  arises  is  this:  are  these  sources 
sufficient  to  establish  the  historical  existence  of  Christ? 
Have  they,  beneath  the  edifying  form  in  which  circum- 
stances have  clothed  them,  a  historical  content? 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  DENIERS  OF  THE  HISTORICITY  OF 
CHRIST^ 

A  NUMBER  of  authors  and  theologians  have  endeavoured 
to  prove  that  Christ  never  existed.  Among  these  we  may 
distinguish  two  broad  tendencies:  the  symbolistic  tendency 
and  the  mythical  tendency,  the  one  finding  in  the  gospels 
a  story  created  out  of  whole  cloth  by  the  primitive  Christian 
community,  the  other  discovering  in  them  a  primitive 
nucleus  composed  of  pagan  myths  which  were  reconstructed 
on  Jewish  soil  and  in  accordance  with  Jewish  ideas. 

As  long  ago  as  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  in 
France,  two  pioneers  were  breaking  the  ground  for  these 
new  ideas.  I  cite  them  merely  lest  they  be  overlooked. 
Charles  Frangois  Dupuis  (i  742-1 809),  in  a  work  entitled 
Origine  de  tous  les  cultes  ou  religion  universelle,  in  three 
volumes,  attempted  to  explain  the  pagan  myths  and  the 
Mystery-Religions,  and,  presently  turning  to  Christianity, 
identified  Christ  with  Hercules,  Osiris,  and  Bacchus.  Vol- 
ney,  the  second  of  these  precursors,  in  his  Ruines  ou  midi- 
tation  sur  les  revolution  des  empires,  presents  his  ideas  in 
the  form  of  a  vision  which  he  had  had  among  the  ruins  of 
Palmyra.  The  adherents  of  the  various  religions  are  as- 
sembled there,  in  one  spot,  and  are  told  that  they  have 
all  been  deceived  by  their  priests.  All  dogmas,  we  are 
informed,  are  mythical  by  nature;  the  true  religion  is  purely 
spiritual.  As  for  the  Christian  drama,  it  represents  the 
course  of  the  sun  through  the  signs  of  the  zodiac.  Napoleon 
enjoyed  this  book  of  Volney's.  In  a  conversation  which 
he  had  one  day  with  the  poet  Wieland,  he  told  the  latter 

1  The  information  given  here  is  drawn  from  the  work  of  Schweitzer, 
Geschichte  dcr  Leben-J esu-Forschung ,  2  ed.,  ch.  XXII. 

75 


76  INTRODUCTION 

that  it  was  a  great  question  v/hether  Jesus  had  ever  lived, 
substantiating  his  remark  by  citing  Volney's  book.  Wieland 
replied  to  Napoleon:  "I  know  very  well,  Your  Majesty, 
that  there  are  a  few  madmen  who  doubt  it,  but  it  seems 
to  me  as  foolish  as  if  one  were  to  doubt  that  Julius  Csesar 
had  lived,  or  that  Your  Majesty  is  living  now." 

Later  the  question  was  taken  up  in  a  more  aggressive 
manner,  probably  under  the  influence  of  a  more  thorough 
study  of  the  Greek  and  pagan  Mystery-Religions.  It  was 
observed  that  humanity  had  always  sought  for  a  revela- 
tion, that  it  had  often  found  satisfaction  for  this  religious 
need  by  taking  up  again  the  old  ideas  and  ancient  rites 
and  giving  them  a  new  signification,  a  profounder  and  more 
moral  meaning.  It  was  observed  that,  under  these  primitive 
rites,  when  the  peculiarities  of  the  different  cycles  of  tradi- 
tion were  suppressed,  they  returned  again  to  the  same  cen- 
tral idea:  that  of  redemption  through  a  saviour-god.  From 
this  it  was  only  a  step  to  the  belief  that  in  order  to  found 
the  religion  of  Christ,  all  that  was  necessary  was  the  appear- 
ance of  some  unimportant  historical  figure  who  could  be 
clothed  later  with  the  splendour  of  the  Gnostic  and  syn- 
cretistic  ideas,  and  whom  people  would  end  by  making  into 
a  redeemer  who  dies  and  is  raised  again. 

This  step  was  quickly  taken.  Bruno  Bauer,^  for  ex- 
ample, attempted  to  show  that  the  gospels  were  fabricated 
by  the  proto-evangelists,  and  he  supported  his  ideas  with 
a  very  learned  critique  which  was  decidedly  negative  in  its 
attitude  towards  the  texts. 

Still  closer  to  our  own  time,  we  might  mention  the  work 
of  John  M.  Robertson,  Christianity  and  Mythology  (1900). 
Robertson  lays  down  a  sort  of  law  of  evolution  for  all  the 
religions;  the  differences  between  them  spring  only  from 

^  Kritik  d-er  Evangelien.  Berlin,  1850.  Chrisfus  und  die  Cdsaren, 
Der  Urspi'nng  des  Christ eninms  ans  dem  romischen  Griechentum.  Ber- 
lin, 1877,  pp.  387. 


THE  DENIERS  OF  HISTORICITY  OF  CHRIST       77 

the  environment  and  the  special  circumstances  of  the 
milieu.  In  every  religion,  new  gods  have  gradually  taken 
the  place  of  old  ones;  hence  the  idea  of  the  father-gods 
and  the  son-gods  (Krishna-Indra,  Serapis-Osiris,  etc.).  We 
find  the  same  movement  among  the  Jews.  Little  by  little 
the  Oint,  the  Christ  of  the  Apocalypse  of  Enoch,  rises  to 
the  rank  of  a  divinity  and  takes  the  place  of  the  Father 
God.  To  this  are  added  the  influences  that  have  come 
from  Greece  and  the  Orient.  Robertson  also  lays  great 
stress  on  the  cult  of  Joshtia  (which  is  the  same  name  as 
Jesus)  which  must  have  been  already  in  existence  in  the 
time  of  Abraham.  According  to  him,  this  Joshua  was  an 
Ephraitic  god  of  the  sun.  Like  Jesus,  he  was  represented 
under  the  form  of  the  lamb.  This  cult  entered  into  rela- 
tions with  the  Phoenician  cult  of  Adonis  and  Tammuz. 
Now,  in  the  generations  that  preceded  Christianity,  there 
was  a  cult  of  Osiris-Tammuz  in  Palestine,  in  which  they 
honoured  a  Mary  and  her  infant  child  Jesus.  The  city  of 
David  was  dedicated  to  this  Tammuz,  for  David  is  the  same 
as  Daouid,  which  is  itself  the  same  as  Dodo,  a  familiar 
name  of  Tammuz.  From  these  parallels,  Robertson  de- 
duces the  whole  story  of  Jesus.  The  accounts  of  the  birth 
of  Jesus  came  from  the  dramatic  ceremonial  with  which, 
on  Christmas  day,  they  celebrated  the  birth  of  Osiris- 
Tammuz.  The  story  of  the  resurrection  and  the  death 
also  came  from  the  rites  celebrated  on  the  occasion  of  the 
anniversary  of  this  god's  death,  at  Easter.  At  this  time 
too  there  was  a  festival  meal,  which  was  introduced  into 
the  story  of  the  Passion  and  became  the  Lord's  Supper, 
etc.,  etc. 

We  see  the  direction  he  is  taking.  We  shall  not  enter 
into  all  the  details.  According  to  Robertson,  it  was  through 
Saint  Paul  that  the  movement  acquired  its  universaHstic 
direction.    It  was  thus  the  representation  of  the  Mysteries 


78  INTRODUCTION 

that  created  the  gospel  story  and  all  its  scenes.  The 
miracles  also  came  from  the  other  religions.  Thus  the 
miracle  of  the  water  changed  into  wine  at  Cana  is  nothing 
else  than  the  story  of  the  spring  of  Dionysus  on  the  island 
of  Andros  which,  on  the  fifth  day  of  January,  yielded  wine 
instead  of  water.  The  temptation  to  change  the  stones  into 
bread  comes  from  a  mythical  cycle  from  which  the  legend 
of  Buddha  borrowed  some  elements.  It  may  also  be  com- 
pared with  an  "ordeal  by  hunger  and  thirst"  which  was 
practised  in  the  cult  of  Mithra.  Mithra,  in  fact,  was 
tempted  by  Ahriman,  the  god  of  evil,  and  he  also  fasted. 

For  all  the  facts  of  the  gospel  story  Robertson  finds 
parallels  in  the  pagan  myths;  they  are  often  interesting, 
but  we  do  not  always  quite  see  how  these  facts  can  be 
regarded  as  consequences  of  one  another.  Dionysus,  for 
example,  on  a  day  when  he  is  in  flight,  encounters  two 
asses,  uses  one  of  them  as  a  mount  and  later  elevates  them 
both  to  the  rank  of  stars.  We  cannot  quite  see,  however, 
what  this  has  to  do  with  the  entrance  of  Jesus  into  Jerusa- 
lem on  an  ass.  Poseidon,  god  of  the  sea,  "walked  with 
light  steps  and  fully  clad  upon  the  sea";  but  we  are  still 
at  a  loss  for  the  connection  between  this  fact  and  the  walk- 
ing of  Jesus  upon  the  waves. 

In  the  same  line  of  ideas,  we  may  also  mention  Kalthoff,^ 
who  sees  in  Christianity  the  result  of  different  currents  of 
thought  coming  from  Judaism  and  the  Greco-Roman  world 
of  the  first  century.  The  Jewish  m.essianism  and  the  pop- 
ular Greco-Roman  philosophy  are  supposed  here  to  have 
united  in  it;  and  finally  the  social  movements  of  the  Roman 
Empire  played  the  principal  role  in  this  syncretistic  work. 

The  suggestion  of  Peter  Jensen^  should  also  be  men- 

^Das  Christusprohlevi.  Leipzig,  1902.  Die  Entstehung  dcs  Christen- 
tunis.  neiie  Beitrdge  sum  Chrishisprohlcm.     Leipzig,  1904,  pp.  155. 

'^  Das  Gilgamesch-Epos  in  dcr  WeWitteratur.  Erster  Band:  Die 
Urspriinge   der   alttestamentlichen   Patriarchen-,   Propheten-   und   Be- 


THE  DENIERS  OF  HISTORICITY  OF  CHRIST       79 

tioned.  To  Jensen,  Jesus  and  Paul,  like  the  heroes  of  the 
Old  Testament,  are  mythical  personages.  Jensen's  origi- 
nality, however,  consists  in  causing  their  story  to  be  de- 
rived from  an  old  mythical  epic-cycle  in  the  library  of 
Ashur-bani-pal  at  Nineveh  and  dating  from  668  to  626 
B.C.' 

I  shall  give  a  summary  of  this  in  order  to  show  how  imagi- 
nation and  cleverness  can  supplement  the  critical  sense  when 
one  wishes  at  all  costs  to  find  relations  between  things  where 
little  of  the  kind  exists: 

The  Epic  of  Gilgamesch.  Gilgamesch,  two-thirds  god  and  one- 
third  man,  is  lord  of  the  city  of  Uruk  (Warka)  on  the  Euphrates. 
He  oppresses  his  subjects.  The  latter  pray  to  the  goddess  Aruru 
to  create  a  hero  who  will  free  them  from  this  insupportable  yoke. 
Their  prayer  is  granted.  Aruru  creates  the  man-animal  Engidu 
(Eabani),  who  is  led  by  a  woman  from  the  desert  to  Uruk.  After 
a  duel  in  which  Engidu  is  vanquished,  the  two  heroes  form  an 
alliance.  They  challenge  Humbada,  the  lord  of  the  mountain 
of  cedars,  defeat  him,  and  cast  his  corpse  into  the  meadows. 
On  their  return  the  goddess  Ishtar  offers  herself  to  Gilgamesch 
as  his  wife.  But  he  will  have  none  of  her,  for  he  knows  that 
she  has  always  reserved  a  horrible  end  for  all  her  husbands,  ever 
since  the  time  of  Tammuz.  Furious  at  this  refusal,  Ishtar  re- 
turns to  heaven  and  asks  her  heavenly  parents  to  create  a  mon- 

freier-Sage  und  der  neiitcstamcntlichen  Jesus-Sage.  Strasbourg,  1906, 
pp.  1030. 

Moses,  Jesus,  Paulus,  Drci  Sagenvarianten  des  babyloniscJien  Goft- 
menschen  Gilgamesch.  Eine  Anklage  wider  Thcologen  und  Sophisten 
und  ein  Appel  an  die  Lxiien.    Frankfort  a.  M.,  1909,  pp.  63. 

Hat  der  Jesus  der  Evangelien  wirklich  g-elebt?  Eine  Antwort  an 
Professor  JUlicher.     Frankfort  a.  M.,  1910,  pp.  32. 

Against  Jensen,  cf.  Arthur  Ungnad  and  Hugo  Gressman:  Das 
Gilgamesch-Epos.     Gottingen,  191 1,  pp.  232. 

s  This  has  been  published  by  Paul  Haupt  in  the  Bibliothhque  assyr- 
ienne  of  Delitzsch  and  Haupt  under  the  title :  L'epopee  babylonienne 
de  Nimrod  (1884-1891)  and  by  Pere  Paul  Dhorme,  with  a  French 
translation,  in  his  Choix  de  textes  religieux  assyro-babyloniens.  Paris, 
Lecoffre,  1907.  See  also  the  translation  and  commentary  on  the  legend 
in  Alf.  Jeremias,  Isdubar-Nimrod,  pp.  14  et  seqq.,  in  Sauveplane,  Une 
epopee  babylonienne,  Rev.  des  Religions,  July-August,  1892,  pp.  ;i7  et 
seqq.,  and  in  the  Keilinschriftliche  Bibliothek,  VI,  i,  pp.  116  et 
seqq.  and  pp.  421  et  seqq. 


8o  INTRODUCTION 

ster  which  shall  kill  Gilgamesch.  Her  prayer  is  granted,  but 
the  monster  also  falls  beneath  the  blows  of  the  two  friends.  At 
this  the  whole  city  of  Uruk  rejoices. 

Then  Engidu  falls  ill  and  dies,  after  having  suffered  for  twelve 
days  with  fever.  Gilgamesch,  frightened,  begins  to  wonder  if  he 
may  not  suffer  a  similar  fate.  Although  he  is  tvt^o-thirds  god 
he  yet  remains  mortal.  He  therefore  sets  off  to  find  his  ancestor, 
Utnapischtim,  who  sits  in  the  assembly  of  the  gods,  to  ask  him 
how  he  may  obtain  immortality.  He  comes  to  the  end  of  the 
world,  to  the  sky  where  the  sun  returns  every  evening  and 
whence  it  emerges  every  morning.  A  man-scorpion  and  his  wife 
defend  the  road  to  the  garden  of  the  gods.  When  they  learn 
the  reason  for  his  journey,  however,  they  let  him  pass,  but  with- 
out concealing  from  him  the  dangers  that  await  him.  Nothing 
stops  him  and  he  reaches  the  sea  which,  until  then,  only  the 
sun-god  has  crossed.  Utnapischtim's  boatman  consents  to  carry 
him  over  to  the  other  side. 

Gilgamesch  then  arrives  where  his  ancestor  dwells.  But  in 
answer  to  his  question  he  receives  this  discouraging  reply:  that 
eternal  life  is  not  destined  for  men.  Everything  is  transitory. 
Life  endures  but  a  while,  death  alone  is  eternal. 

In  spite  of  this,  Utnapischtim  is  quite  willing  to  make  the 
attempt  to  give  eternal  life  to  Gilgamesch.  But  the  hero  must 
first  conquer  sleep,  and  remain  awake  for  six  nights  and  six  days. 
The  wife  of  Utnapischtim,  touched  with  pity,  bakes  seven  loaves 
of  bread  which  will  sustain  Gilgamesch  during  the  ordeal.  But 
before  she  has  prepared  them,  the  eyes  of  Gilgamesch  have  closed 
with  fatigue. 

Since  this  attempt  has  not  succeeded,  the  ancestor  of  Gilga- 
mesch consents  to  reveal  to  him  the  secret  of  the  herb  of  life 
which  grows  in  the  depths  of  the  sea.  Gilgamesch  dives  in  and 
brings  it  back.  He  wishes  to  carry  it  to  his  own  country  and 
give  it  to  others.  But  on  the  way,  while  he  is  bathing,  it  is 
stolen  from  him  by  a  serpent. 

Heart-broken,  he  returns  to  Uruk.  Here,  by  evoking  the  dead, 
he  succeeds  in  speaking  with  the  spirit  of  Engidu.  At  first, 
through  pity,  the  latter  wishes  to  conceal  from  him  the  things 
that  lie  beyond  the  grave,  but  at  last  he  reveals  to  him  the 
miserable  life  which  the  soul  leads  in  the  beyond  if  its  body 
is  mutilated,  and  especially  the  horrible  fate  that  is  reserved  for 


THE  DENIERS  OF  HISTORICITY  OF  CHRIST       8i 

those  who  have  not  been  buried  and  who  are  therefore  not  re- 
ceived in  the  lower  world. 

Here  the  poem  stops. 

Once  more  we  cannot  v^^ell  see  the  connection  between 
this  epic  of  a  Babylonian  hero  and  the  life  of  Jesus.  But 
Jensen  maintains  that  he  finds  in  these  two  stories  the  same 
scheme  and  the  same  succession  of  sayings  and  actions. 
Oh,  the  candour  of  preconceived  ideas!  I  shall  not  dwell 
upon  this  any  further. 

It  remains  for  us  to  mention  two  names:  that  of  William 
Benjamin  Smith,**  the  American  mathematician,  who  sees 
in  Jesus  the  incarnation  of  the  faith  of  a  sect  that  was  very 
widely  spread  among  the  Jews  and  the  Hellenists  about  the 
year  loo  B.C.,  the  divinity  of  which  was  a  Saviour-Protec- 
tor, and  that  of  Arthur  Drews,  who  made  a  great  stir  in 
1910  with  the  publication  of  his  ChristusmytheJ  Drev/s,  a 
continuator  of  the  work  of  Benjamin  Smith,  derives  the 
gospel  story  from  the  old  mythical  conceptions  which  Frazer 
has  studied  so  closely  in  The  Golden  Bough.  In  all  ages 
men  have  adored  the  gods  of  vegetation  and  celebrated  their 
death  and  their  resurrection.  At  times  these  gods  have 
been  represented  by,  and  have  been  as  it  were  incarnated 
in,  the  king,  and  it  often  happened  that  in  certain  nations 
they  killed  the  king  at  the  end  of  the  year;  he  was  then 
believed  to  reappear  and  to  be  born  again,  the  following 
year,  under  the  guise  of  his  successor.  Later,  they  sub- 
stituted for  the  person  of  the  king  his  son  or  a  murderer 
who  died  in  his  stead,  after  having  enjoyed  for  some  time 
all  the  prerogatives  of  royalty  and  lived  surrounded  by  a 
quasi-pomp  corresponding  with  his  assumed  position.    Even 

6  Der  vorchristliche  Jesus  nebst  weiteren  Vorstudien  sur  Entstehungs- 
geschichte  des  Urchristentums.    Jena,  1906,  pp.  243. 

Ecc-e  Deus.  Die  urchristliche  Lehre  des  rehigottlichen  Jesus.  Jena, 
1911,  pp.  315. 

'^  Die  Christusmythe.    Jena,  1909,  pp.  190;  3rd  ed.  1910,  pp.  238. 


82  INTRODUCTION 

in  the  fourth  century  A.D.  it  is  related  that  the  soldiers 
of  a  Roman  legion,  encamped  on  the  banks  of  the  Danube, 
chose  one  of  their  number  as  king  before  the  Saturnalia. 
He  received  royal  honours  and  indulged  himself  to  his 
heart's  content  during  the  feasts;  then  his  throat  was  cut 
on  the  altar  of  the  god  whom  he  represented.* 

Now,  according  to  Frazer,  the  Jewish  feast  of  the  Purim 
was  closely  patterned  upon  a  Babylonian  festival  in  which 
was  represented  a  murder  of  the  king  of  the  same  type. 
Here  Haman  was  represented  each  year  by  a  criminal; 
some  one  else  took  the  role  of  Mordecai,  who  was  nothing 
less  than  the  resuscitated  god.  What  more  simple  than  to 
put  forward  the  following  hypothesis:  one  year  it  was  Jesus 
who  was  named  king  of  the  Purim,  while  Barabbas  took 
the  role  of  Mordecai!  Hence  the  crucifixion  of  the  one 
and  the  liberation  of  the  other.  Drews  adopts  this  hypoth- 
esis of  Frazer  and  elevates  it  to  the  rank  of  a  certitude. 

By  the  aid  of  his  recollections  of  this  feast  of  the  Purim, 
of  certain  elements  of  the  cult  of  Adonis  and  Attis,  as  well 
as  a  few  points  from  Chapter  LIII  of  Isaiah  and  the  pre- 
Christian  story  of  Jesus  of  which  Robertson  speaks,®  Saint 
Paul  is  said  to  have  created  the  myth  of  Christ.  After 
the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  the  entirely  mythical  Christ 
was  transformed  into  a  historical  Christ,  and  his  birth  was 
placed  in  the  reign  of  Augustus.  By  this  means  Jewish 
monotheism  was  enabled  to  conquer  the  world. 

*  Cf.  Franz  Cumont,  Actes  du  martyre  de  St-Dasius,  d'aprcs  un 
manuscrit  grec  dela  Bibliotheque  nationale,  1897. 

Id.,  Le  Rot  des  Saturnales,  Rev.  de  Philologie,  1897,  pp.  I43-I53. 

Wendland,  p.,  Jesus  als  Saturnalienkonig ,  Hermes  XXXIII,  1898, 
pp.  175-179. 

Reich,  H.,  Der  Kdnig  mit  der  Dornenkrone.     Leipzig,  1905. 

VoLLMER,  H.,  Jesus  und  das  Sakdenopfer.     Giessen,  1905. 

^  Robertson,  John  M.,  Christianity  and  Mythology.  London,  1900, 
2  ed.  1910,  pp.  472. 

Id.,  a  Short  History  of  Christianity.    London,  1902,  pp.  429. 

Id.,  Pagan  Christs.  Studies  in  Comparative  Hierology.  London, 
1902,  2  ed.,  191 1,  pp.  456. 


THE  DENIERS  OF  HISTORICITY  OF  CHRIST       83 

After  this  too  rapid  and  far  from  thorough  enumeration 
of  the  authors  who  have  denied  the  historicity  of  Jesus,  let 
us  stop  a  moment  and  ask  what  service  they  have  rendered 
us.  They  have  plainly  accented  certain  problems  that  have 
not  yet  been  sufficiently  considered  or  sufficiently  illumi- 
nated; they  reveal  to  us  a  whole  group  of  forces  and  in- 
fluences which  concurred  perhaps,  side  by  side  with  the 
testimony  and  the  preaching  of  Jesus,  in  establishing  the 
Christianity  that  exists.  It  is  obviously  necessary  to  dis- 
cover just  how  far  legends  and  myths  foreign  to  Christianity 
contributed  to  its  formation.  But  if  these  works  are  not 
entirely  without  value  in  that  they  have  drawn  our  attention 
to  certain  points  and  certain  resemblances,  what  they  at- 
tempt to  prove  has  no  value  at  all.  After  them,  as  before 
them,  it  remains  true  that  a  manifestation  of  character 
as  personal  as  Christianity  cannot  be  explained  save  as 
having  at  its  base  a  creative  personality  which  gave  birth 
to  it.  The  testimony  of  Saint  Paul  would  alone  suffice  to 
establish  clearly  the  existence  of  the  historic  Christ.^" 

On  this  point  there  is  more  to  be  said.  Certain  features 
of  the  gospel  texts  themselves  militate  against  the  opinion 
of  the  authors  whose  ideas  we  have  just  sketched.  They 
demonstrate  the  baselessness  of  their  general  assertions; 
they  enable  us  to  correct  whatever  in  the  affirmations  of 
these  authors  tends  to  disprove  absolutely  the  historicity 
of  Jesus.  A  rapid  enumeration  of  these  features  "  will  lead 
us  to  decide  with  all  care  what  use  we  can  make,  for  our 
own  purposes,  of  the  gospel  texts. 

I.  The  contention  upon  which  rests  the  whole  argument 
of  those  who  deny  the  historicity  of  Jesus  is  that  the  gos- 
pels in  their  entirety  are  the  product  of  the  faith  of  the 
first  Christian  communities.     Being  works  of  edification, 

1*^  Cf.  Heitmuller,  Art.  Jesus-Christus,  I,  i  and  3  in  Die  Religion  in 
Geschichte  und  Gegenwart. 
11  Based  upon  the  article  by  Heitmuller  cited  above. 


84  INTRODUCTION 

they  are  based  upon  preconceived  ideas,  and  in  consequence 
all  the  facts  they  relate  are  to  be  accepted  with  caution. 

Now  it  seems  to  me  that  we  can  grant  the  premises  of 
this  argument  without  accepting  its  conclusion.  That  the 
gospels  are  works  of  edification,  written  with  a  parenetic 
object,  is  incontestable.  But  this  does  not  imply  that  all 
the  facts  they  relate  are  disputable  and  have  been  distorted. 
The  best  proof  that  this  is  not  the  case  is  precisely  that 
the  gospels  contain  certain  affirmations  which  are  in  flagrant 
disaccord  with  the  faith  of  the  primitive  Church,  and  con- 
tradictory to  it,  and  consequently  could  not  have  been  in- 
vented by  it  or  for  its  benefit.  Let  us  note  a  few  examples 
in  point: 

The  primitive  Church  held  that  its  Saviour  was  a  being 
without  sin.  But  in  Mark  x,  17,  we  see  Jesus  rejecting  the 
title  of  "Good  Master"  which  was  given  him  and  replying: 
"Why  callest  thou  me  good?  There  is  none  good  but  one, 
that  is  God."  It  is  evident  that  this  pericope  does  not  come 
from  the  community.  This  is  why,  in  Matthew  xix,  16, 
we  find  it  modified  into  the  sense  of  the  general  belief: 
"Good  Master,  what  good  thing  shall  I  do?"  And  the 
answer:  "Why  askest  thou  me  concerning  that  which  is 
good?    One  there  is  who  is  good." 

The  scene  of  Gethsemane,  which  shows  us  Jesus  in  such 
great  agony,  could  never  have  been  invented  by  people  who 
were  persuaded  that  Jesus  had  accepted  death  deliberately 
and,  as  it  were,  by  choice.     (See  Mark,  xiv,  32-42.) 

The  account  in  Mark  iii,  21,  in  which  his  friends  say 
that  Jesus  is  beside  himself,  could  never  have  been  invented 
by  orthodox  believers,  any  more  than  could  the  denial  of 
Peter,  who  was  the  great  apostle  for  these  primitive  con- 
gregations. 

The  flight  of  the  apostles,  at  the  moment  of  the  arrest 
of  Jesus,  could  not  have  been  imagined  by  men  who  re- 


THE  DENIERS  OF  HISTORICITY  OF  CHRIST       85 

spected  and  reverenced  in  them  the  true  witnesses  of  Christ. 
(cf.  Mark  xiv,  50.)  We  find  Luke  and  John  already  some- 
what disguising  this. 

There  are,  then,  features  in  the  gospels  which  have  the 
appearance  of  being  perfectly  historical  and  which  cannot 
be  the  product  of  distortions  on  the  part  of  the  Christian 
community  since  they  are  not  in  accord  with  its  own  faith. 
If  the  Christians  preserved  them  in  spite  of  this,  it  shows 
their  respect  for  the  tradition  and  their  care  to  suppress 
nothing  in  it,  even  when  it  may  have  shocked  them.  And 
this  care  is  a  guaranty  of  historical  exactitude. 

2.  It  may  be  observed  that  Mark  and  the  source  of 
the  Logia  or  Q  have  a  decidedly  Aramaic  colour;  one  is 
led  to  feel  by  all  sorts  of  signs  that  these  accounts  were 
bom  in  Palestine.  How  are  we  to  explain  the  presence 
of  narratives  of  a  rustic  and  countrified  character  in  the 
body  of  a  work  which,  according  to  the  opinion  of  the  de- 
niers  of  the  historicity,  was  fabricated  by  Christians  of 
such  great  Hellenistic  cities  as  Corinth,  Rome,  Antioch,  or 
Ephesus?  We  know  the  type  of  Christian  communities 
which  appear,  for  example,  in  the  epistles  of  Paul:  it  is 
from  these  urban  conditions  that  they  would  have  the  whole 
substance  of  our  gospels  spring.  But  we  do  not  well  see 
how  these  people,  especially  the  humbler  folk  of  such  an 
environment,  could  have  fabricated  stories  whose  accent  is 
so  purely  Palestinian  and  even  Galilean.  Let  us  add  that 
those  allusions  of  Mark  and  the  Logia  to  regional  peculiari- 
ties, for  example  the  names  of  places,  small  villages,  per- 
sons, defy  any  symbolic  explanation  and  cannot  be  con- 
sidered otherwise  than  as  the  remains  and  traces  of  actual 
history. 

3.  Another  objection  is  this:  how  can  we  believe  that 
the  words  of  Jesus  could  have  escaped  transformation  when 
they  were  preserved  orally  for  thirty  of  forty  years  before 


86  INTRODUCTION 

they  were  put  into  writing?  Well,  we  are  obliged  to  allow 
for  the  far  greater  strength  of  memory  at  a  period  when 
people  had  much  more  need  of  it  than  we  have  to-day/" 
The  same  phenomenon  occurred  in  Jewish  theology,  for 
example.  For  a  long  time  the  utterances  and  the  opinions 
of  the  rabbis  on  great  questions  were  preserved  orally; 
they  were  not  put  into  writing  until  the  middle  of  the  sec- 
ond century  A.D.  Yet  no  one  doubts  to-day  that  in  these 
words  we  have  the  real  conceptions  of  the  rabbis  of  the  first 
century.^^ 

12  It  may  be  observed  that,  in  general,  the  memory  is  much  stronger 
among  primitive  and  uncultivated  people  than  among  intellectuals,  or 
at  least  a  certain  sort  of  memory,  that  which  retains  facts  as  in  a 
note-book  and  without  reasoning  about  them.  Thus  the  negroes,  who 
can  neither  read  nor  write,  retain  all  the  facts  about  their  interminable 
palavers  and  know  exactly  how  many  guns,  pieces  of  cotton  or  pots  the 
father  of  their  grandfather  gave  to  his  father-in-law  as  the  price  of  his 
wife.  The  more  writing  comes  to  the  aid  of  our  laziness  of  mind,  the 
more  that  a  developed  reasoning  faculty  allows  us  to  discover  in  the 
past  the  useful  facts  of  which  we  have  need,  the  more  our  memory 
gives  way  or  turns  its  attention  to  other  objects.  The  ancient  scribes 
undoubtedly  knew  far  more  texts  by  heart  than  our  modern  scribes, 
because  they  had  neither  printing  nor  writing  appliances  at  their 
service. 

13  Consult  on  the  historicity  of  the  gospels  the  following  v/orks : 
BoussET,  W.,  Was  zvissen  wir  von  Jesus?    1904. 

ScHMiEDEL,  p.  W.,  Die  Person  Jesii  im  Strcite  der  Meinungen  der 
Geg^enwart.    1906. 

VON  SoDEN,  H.,  Hat  Jesus  gelebtf     1910. 

Weinel,  H.,  1st  das  liberale  Jesusbild  widerlegt?     1910. 

Weiss,  Joh.,  Jes^ls  von  Nazareth,  Mythus  oder  Geschichte?     1910. 

Wellhausen,  J.,  Einleitung  in  die  drei  erstcn  Evangelien.  1905,  pp. 
89-115. 

Pfleiderer,  O.,  Das  Christusbild  des  urchristlichen  Glaubens  in  re- 
ligionsgeschichtlicher  Belcuchtung.     1903. 

VAN  den  Bergh,  G.,  JUdische  EinflUsse  auf  evangelische  Erzdhlungen, 
1909. 

Guignebert,  Ch.,  Le  probleme  de  Jesus.    1914. 

Pillion,  L.  C.,  L'existence  historique  de  Jesus  et  le  rationalisnte 
contemporain.     Paris,  1909,  pp.  412. 

S.  Jackson  Case,  The  American  Journal  of  Theology.  191 1,  pp.  20- 
42,  205-227. 

Reinach,  S.,  Orpheus.     Paris,  1909,  pp.  315-345. 

Dole,  Ch.,  What  We  Know  About  Jesus.     Chicago,  1908,  pp.  89. 

Schweitzer,  at  the  beginning  of  chapter  XXIII  of  his  work,  Ge- 
schichte der  Lebcn-J esu-Forschung ,  gives  a  complete  bibliography  of 
the  discussion  which  the  problem  of  the  historicity  of  Jesus  has  raised 
among  theologians  in  the  German  tongue. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  DOCUMENTARY  VALUE  OF  THE 
GOSPELS 

After  what  we  have  just  said  about  those  who  deny  the 
historicity  of  Jesus,  the  arguments  upon  which  they  lean 
and  those  that  may  be  opposed  to  them,  we  are  in  a  better 
position  to  judge  of  the  value  and  especially  of  the  kind  of 
value  which  the  gospels  may  have  for  establishing  a  life  of 
Jesus.  They  certainly  contain  history,  as  our  last  observa- 
tions testify,  undeniable  historical  details  about  a  person 
who  hved  in  this  world  and  has  left  here  incontestable 
traces  of  himself.    This  is  the  first  point. 

The  second  is  this:  these  golden  nuggets  are  strewn 
through  a  soil  that  is  permeated  everywhere  with  foreign 
matter.  In  other  words,  what  is  strictly  historical  in  the 
gospels  is  scattered  about  here,  there  and  everywhere,  and 
is  surrounded  by  a  matrix  that  is  half  legendary,  half  dog- 
matic. The  person  of  Jesus  is  continually  appearing  in  it, 
sometimes  with  the  stamp  of  an  originality  that  belongs  to 
him  alone  and  distinguishes  him  markedly  from  the  tradi- 
tional Christian  atmosphere,  sometimes,  on  the  contrary, 
veiled  and  as  it  were  distorted  by  ideas  from  a  Jewish  or 
foreign  source  that  obliterates  its  original  features.  To 
sort  these  out  is  a  difficult,  almost  an  impracticable  task, 
and  one  before  which  those  very  theologians  who  have  sin- 
cerely tried  to  give  an  historical  life  of  Jesus  have  most 
frequently  recoiled.  Indeed,  one  of  the  most  eminent  serv- 
ices which  criticism  has  rendered  us  has  been  to  show  us 
the  virtual  impossibility  of  restoring  to  the  world  a  figure 

87 


88  INTRODUCTION 

of  Christ  that  is  historical  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  word.^ 
For  the  critics  have  thus  obliged  us  to  pose  the  following 
question  of  principle:  what  is  the  true  manner  in  which  we 
should  approach  the  life  of  Jesus?  Should  we  continue  to 
plod  along  in  the  old  ways  which  the  pure  historical  method, 
in  its  dryness  and  aridity,  has  pursued  for  more  than  a 
century?  Is  it  not  the  sense  of  the  situation,  faced  as  we 
are  with  the  impasse  in  which  the  historical  method  has 
ended,  that  we  should  attempt  another  method?  ^ 

Now  to  this  question  it  seems  to  me  that  we  should  reply 
as  follows:  since  the  gospels  and  the  epistles  are  essentially 
works  of  edification  and  not  historical  works,  it  is  not  for 
history  and  the  historical  method  to  monopolise  the  prob- 
lems which  they  bring  before  the  human  consciousness. 
The  question,  in  short,  is  not  merely  one  of  reconstructing 
the  exact  historical  frame  in  which  the  personality  of 
Christ  evolved,  not  merely  of  being  able  to  say  with  cer- 
titude that  such  and  such  an  utterance  is  his  and  that  he 
pronounced  it  in  the  very  terms  in  which  it  has  come  down 
to  us.    These  questions,  which  have  gradually  assumed  the 


1  Echt  historisch,  as  the  Germans  say.  See  in  this  connection  the 
conclusion  of  the  fine  study  by  Schweitzer,  Geschicht-e  der  Lehen- 
Jesu-Forschung.    Tiibingen,  191 3. 

2  Kierkegaard,  that  strange,  paradoxical  man  who,  if  he  was  not  a 
theologian  in  the  classical  sense  of  the  word,  nevertheless  perceived 
better  than  many  theologians  the  profound  meaning  of  the  Christian 
life,  attempts,  in  a  page  which  forms  a  happy  balance  to  the  statements 
of  those  who  deny  the  historicity  of  Jesus,  to  go  further  than  history 
and  into  the  beyond ;  and  while  his  scorn  for  the  prevailing  theology 
is  exaggerated,  there  is  in  his  paradox  a  basis  of  truth  which  we  can 
appreciate : 

"Christendom,"  he  says,  "has  completely  destroyed  Christianity. 
There  is  no  longer  any  question  of  going  back,  as  Luther  did,  to  the 
tradition  of  the  apostles.  Tradition,  history,  exegesis :  away  with  all 
such  words !  The  proofs  of  the  divinity  of  Christ  which  the  Scriptures 
offer  us  have  no  existence  except  through  faith.  Therefore  they  are 
not  proofs.  History  which  spreads  before  our  eyes  the  progress  and 
victories  of  Christianity,  does  not  prove  that  Christ  was  God.  It 
proves  that  he  was  a  great  man,  the  greatest  of  men  :  that  is  all.  The 
consequences  of  a  man's  life  signify  more  than  the  life  itself.  When, 
therefore,  in  order  to  understand  Christ,  we  consider  the  consequences 


DOCUMENTARY  VALUE  OF  THE  GOSPELS       89 

first  place  in  modern  theology,  are  not  in  reality  the  most 
important;  they  have  become  so  owing  to  the  influence  of 
a  professional  deformation  which  has  little  by  little  obscured 
the  view  of  the  whole  for  the  sake  of  the  details. 

The  difficulty  of  establishing  the  authenticity  of  the  very 
words  used  by  Jesus,  a  difficulty  which  modern  theology 
and  its  methods  vividly  reveals  to  us,  should  not  conceal 
from  us  the  value  of  the  impression  which  the  person  of 
Christ  made  upon  the  witnesses  of  his  life.  The  matter 
of  prime  importance  in  the  case  is  this  personality,  and 
not  merely  the  verbal  exactitude  of  his  sayings;  it  is  this 
which  we  should  recover  and  of  which  we  should  determine 
the  nature  and  the  character.  It  seems  to  have  been  quite 
forgotten  that  this  was  the  original  concern  of  the  historical 
studies. 

Now  in  order  to  grasp  this  personality  through  the  evi- 
dences that  have  come  down  to  us,  it  is  not  enough  merely 
to  criticise  the  historical  form  of  these  evidences;  we  must 
understand  the  psychology  of  those  who  have  spoken  in 
them  and  discern,  through  this  psychology,  the  value,  the 
character  and  the  nature  of  that  person.    With  the  crum- 

of  his  life,  we  make  him  a  man  like  other  men,  and  like  them  subject 
to  the  examination  of  history.  Christianity  has  no  historical  founda- 
tion. The  Socratic  teaching  at  the  heart  of  Christianity  is  decidedly 
open  to  question.  To  teach  is  to  awaken  the  memory.  One  never 
teaches ;  one  is  simply  the  occasion  of  another's  recalling  what  he  has 
always  known.  From  the  moment  when  we  become  aware  of  the 
truth  we  become  aware  of  what  we  have  always  possessed.  In  what 
really  concerns  him  a  man  never  owes  anything  to  another  man ;  and 
the  historic  moment  thus  offers  no  interest  whatever.  If  we  live  in 
falsehood  no  man  can  enlighten  us,  for  he  would  have  at  the  same 
time  to  reveal  the  truth  to  us  and  place  us  in  a  state  to  receive  it.  This 
only  a  God  can  do,  and  a  God  has  done  it !  Jesus  Christ  was  the 
Teacher  and  the  Saviour.  But  Jesus  Christ,  the  Man-God,  is  the  abso- 
lute paradox,  the  eternal  absurdity.  His  contemporaries  were  no  nearer 
to  him  than  the  generations  which  have  succeeded  him.  His  life  is 
never  a  thing  of  the  past,  belonging  to  history.  A  true  believer  be- 
comes, through  this  very  fact,  his  contemporary ;  and  this  state  of 
contemporaneity  is  the  essential  condition  of  Faith."  (Kierkegaard, 
L'entraincment  au  christianisnie ,  adaptation  by  M.  Bellessort,  Rev. 
des  Deux  Mondes,  March  i,  1914.) 


go  INTRODUCTION 

bling  of  the  texts  and  the  historical  vagueness  in  which 
exegesis  and  modern  criticism  are  ending,  it  is  time  that  we 
should  start  anew  and  face  the  fact  that  we  are  not  dealing 
in  the  gospels  with  words  alone  but  with  witnesses,  that  is 
with  human  beings  who  are  seeking  to  communicate 
through  these  words  an  impression  which  they  have  them- 
selves experienced.  The  age  and  the  integrity  of  the 
various  texts  are  certainly  important;  but  not  less  so  is  the 
psychic  state  which,  in  their  totality,  they  reveal  in  this  or 
tliat  one  of  their  authors  and  the  nature  of  the  impression 
which  Christ  made  upon  them.  If  we  are  to  arrive  at  any 
knowledge  of  what  Jesus  was,  we  must  know  first  of  all 
what,  psychically  speaking,  these  men  were.  Knowing  this, 
we  can  interpret  the  impression  which  they  say  they  re- 
ceived from  their  master. 

Hence  there  are  at  least  three  psychologies  which  must 
be  taken  into  consideration  in  the  elaboration  of  a  life  of 
Jesus : 

1.  That  of  the  first  Christian  community  in  the  bosom 
of  which  the  gospels  were  born  and  whose  faith  constitutes, 
so  to  speak,  a  prism  through  which  Jesus  was  contemplated. 
Here  we  must  bear  in  mind  the  ideas,  conceptions  and  be- 
liefs, Jewish,  foreign  and  sometimes  pagan  in  origin,  which 
were  current  in  this  environment. 

2.  The  psychology  of  the  author  of  the  gospel  of  John, 
a  mystical  psychology  of  a  very  peculiar  kind  and  one  that 
has  tinted  with  special  colours  the  portrait  which  the  author 
has  left  us  of  Christ.  Here  again  we  must  bear  in  mind 
the  Greco-Hellenistic  influences  to  which  the  author  of  the 
fourth  gospel  was  subjected  in  the  environment  in  which 
he  lived. 

3.  Finally,  the  psychology  of  Christ  himself,  appre- 
hended as  far  as  possible  through  these  two  prisms  from 
which  we  must  escape  as  often  as  we  can  by  comparing  the 


DOCUMENTARY  VALUE  OF  THE  GOSPELS       91 

texts  and  correcting  any  flagrant  distortions  that  appear. 
This  work  obviously  requires  a  very  subtle  and  delicate 
discernment,  and  it  can  be  accomplished  only  gradually  and 
through  successive  corrections  of  one  author  by  another. 

We  cannot  hope  to  reach  our  goal  at  the  first  attempt. 
But  the  four  gospels,  as  we  possess  them,  seem  to  us  suf- 
ficient sources  for  such  a  project  as  long  as  we  accept  them 
for  what  they  are,  that  is  to  say,  not  documents  of  an 
entirely  historical  content,  but  works  of  edification  in 
which  the  authors  have  sought,  if  not  to  prove,  at  least  to 
support  the  foundation  of  an  already  existing  collective 
faith  in  him  whose  story  they  are  telling. 

A  slavish  adherence  to  the  letter  is  thus  more  unfor- 
tunate here  than  anywhere  else.  We  should  free  ourselves 
from  it,  not  merely  by  checking  the  parallel  narratives,  one 
by  another,  but  also  by  distinguishing  the  non-historical 
matter  deposited  in  them  by  a  dogmatism  already  in  process 
of  formation  and  the  unconscious  additions  that  undoubt- 
edly accrued  to  these  works  in  the  course  of  their  compo- 
sition from  a  legendary  lore  that  was  too  easily  accepted, 
from  traditional  opinions,  from  superstition  and  the  belief 
in  constant  miracles. 

Thus,  without  refusing  the  aid  of  the  general  results  of 
the  criticism  of  the  New  Testament,  taking  them  indeed 
largely  into  account,  we  shall  yet  seek  to  avoid  the  dry 
pedantry  which  characterises  some  of  its  most  conspicuous 
representatives  who,  hypnotised  by  the  age  of  the  docu- 
ments and  the  purely  historical  value  of  every  word,  lose 
sight  of  the  whole  and  render  themselves  forever  incapable 
of  perceiving  the  echo  of  one  soul  in  another  soul.  Bending 
over  the  hearts  of  those  who  have  written,  we  shall  attempt 
to  distinguish,  in  the  midst  of  their  emotion,  what  comes 
from  them  from  that  which  comes,  in  them,  from  him  to 
whom  they  owe  this  emotion.    Let  us  not  forget  that  they 


92  INTRODUCTION 

offer  themselves  as  witnesses  and  that,  in  order  to  under- 
stand a  witness  and  grasp  the  facts  that  his  testimony 
embellishes  or  distorts,  the  best  way  is  not  to  trouble  him 
with  precise  or  difficult  questions,  but  to  listen  to  him,  to 
familiarise  oneself  little  by  little  with  his  own  psychology 
and  to  reconstitute  later,  out  of  what  he  affirms  that  he  has 
seen  or  heard,  that  of  which  he  has  really  b^en  the  witness. 
One  word  more  before  we  strike  into  the  heart  of  our 
subject.  I  have  not  dreamed  of  embracing  here  the  whole 
life  of  Jesus.  I  have  been  content  to  choose  a  few  of  the 
major  subjects  which  offer  the  greatest  number  of  points 
of  contact  with  the  investigations  of  modern  psychology 
and  upon  which  these  studies,  and  particularly  those  of 
psycho-analysis,  may  throw  some  light.  I  have  grouped 
them  roughly  in  the  order  of  development  which  the  present 
state  of  the  criticism  of  the  gospels  authorises  us  to  regard 
as  most  likely  in  the  life  of  Jesus. 


ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 


CHAPTER  I 
THE  BIRTH  OF  JESUS 

There  are  three  matters  to  consider  in  connection  with 
the  birth  of  Jesus: 

1.  The  date  of  this  birth. 

2.  The  place. 

3.  The  circumstances  which  accompanied  it. 

Let  us  begin  with  the  less  important  of  these  questions, 
the  first  two,  in  order  to  dwell  more  at  our  leisure  upon 
the  last. 

§  I.     THE   DATE 

It  is  easy  to  say  that  Jesus  was  born  at  the  beginning  of 
the  year  i,  since  we  reckon  the  years  from  the  date  of 
this  birth.  Unfortunately,  however,  it  happens  that  the  in- 
formation given  us  in  the  gospel  of  Luke  does  not  corrobo- 
rate this  assumption.  In  fact,  the  passage  Luke  ii,  1-2, 
indicates  as  a  milestone  from  which  to  fix  the  date  of  the 
birth  of  Christ  a  census  which  was  taken  while  Quirinus 
was  governor  of  Syria.  Matthew,  on  his  side  (ii,  i),  in- 
forms us  that  Jesus  was  born  at  Bethlehem  in  the  days  of 
Herod  the  king. 

Now,  on  the  one  hand,  we  know  that  Herod  the  Great 
died  in  the  year  750  of  Rome,  that  is  to  say,  in  the  year  4 
before  our  era,  and  on  the  other  that  it  would  have  been 
impossible,  during  the  life  of  Herod  or  that  of  his  son, 
Archelaus,  for  a  Roman  census,  a  census  "by  decree  of 
CcEsar  Augustus,"  to  be  undertaken  in  Judaea.  This  would 
have  been  an  infringement  on  the  part  of  the  emperor  of 

95 


96  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

the  rights  of  the  king,  with  whom  he  was  on  extremely  good 
terms.  Here  is  a  first  difficulty  that  casts  doubt  on  the 
exactitude  of  the  gospel  text. 

There  is  a  second  difficulty.  The  census  undertaken  by 
Quirinus  was  indeed  carried  out,  but  it  was  only  after  the 
deposition  of  Archelaus,  the  son  of  Herod,  by  the  Romans, 
that  is  to  say,  ten  years  after  the  death  of  Herod,  and  there- 
fore in  the  year  6  of  our  era.^  Although  Quirinus  was  twice 
legate  to  Syria,  he  did  not  take  two  censuses  as  was 
thought  to  have  been  proved  by  an  inscription  that  has 
since  been  recognised  as  false.  His  census  undoubtedly 
took  place  at  the  time  of  his  second  legation.^  And  even 
if  it  had  taken  place  during  the  first,  it  could  have  operated 
only  in  the  districts  that  had  been  reduced  to  Roman  prov- 
inces, and  not  in  the  kingdom  of  Herod. 

It  thus  appears,  from  what  Matthew  relates,  that  the 
birth  of  Jesus  must  be  set  back  four  years  before  our  era 
at  least  for  the  events  recounted  to  have  taken  place  in  the 
time  of  Herod.  But  then,  since  the  census  of  Quirinus  is 
found  to  have  taken  place  ten  years  later,  the  events  related 
no  longer  agree. 

A  third  datum  is  that  of  Luke  iii,  i,  in  which  the  evan- 
gelist fixes  the  date  of  the  appearance  of  the  Baptist  in  the 
fifteenth  year  of  the  Emperor  Tiberius,  that  is  in  the  year 
28  or  29  of  our  era.  On  the  other  hand,  Luke  (iii,  23)  says 
that  Jesus  was  about  thirty  years  old  when  he  began  his 
ministry.  Finally,  Jesus  began  his  ministry,  according  to 
Mark  i,  14,  after  the  imprisonment  of  the  Baptist,  which 
no  doubt  took  place  in  the  same  year  as  his  public  appear- 
ance, that  is  in  28  or  29.    If  Jesus  was  about  thirty  years 

1  Cf.  JosEPHUS,  Antiquities  XVII,  xiii,  5 ;  XVIII,  i.     I  and  ii,  I. 

2  Cf.  Orelli,  Inscrip.  lat.  no.  623. 

MoMMSEN,  Res  gestae  divi  Angus ti.     Berlin,  1865,  pp.  iii  et  seqq. 
Renan,  Vie  de  Jesus,  page  20,  note  i. 

Heitmuller,  Art.  Jesus-Christus,  II,  3.,  in  Die  Religion  in  Geschichte 
und  Gegenwart. 


THE  BIRTH  OF  JESUS  97 

old  at  this  time,  he  vvould  have  to  have  been  born  a  little 
before  the  year  i,  which  would  seem  to  indicate  that  we 
must  place  the  birth  of  Jesus  somewhat  before  the  Christian 
era.  But  again  this  does  not  accord  with  the  statement 
about  the  census  of  Quirinus,  which  did  not  take  place  until 
the  year  6. 

Conclusion:  it  certainly  appears  that  there  has  been  some 
error  in  the  determination  of  the  Christian  era.^  But  what- 
ever this  error  may  have  been,  it  is  impossible  to  reconcile 
the  various  data  of  the  gospels.  Here  we  have  a  first  reason 
for  suspecting  the  historical  value  of  these  accounts  of  the 
birth. 

§  2.    THE   PLACE 

The  question  of  the  birthplace  of  Jesus  is  no  less  difficult 
to  establish  from  the  gospel  texts  than  that  of  the  date.  It  is 
generally  supposed,  on  the  faith  of  Matthew  and  Luke,  that 
Christ  was  born  in  Bethlehem  of  Judea.  Matthew  ii,  i: 
"Now  when  Jesus  was  born  in  Bethlehem  of  Judea  in  the 
days  of  Herod  the  king,  behold  there  came  wise  men  from 
the  East  to  Jerusalem,"  etc.;  and  Luke  ii,  3-5:  "And  all 
went  to  enrol  themselves,  every  one  to  his  own  city.  And 
Joseph  also  went  up  from  Galilee,  out  of  the  city  of 
Nazareth,  into  Judea,  to  the  city  of  David,  which  is  called 
Bethlehem,  because  he  was  of  the  house  and  family  of 
David;  to  enrol  himself  with  Mary,  who  was  betrothed 
with  him,  being  great  with  child." 

At  first  sight,  these  texts  appear  to  be  decisive  enough. 
When  we  examine  them  a  little  more  closely,  however,  we 
perceive  that,  far  from  confirming  one  another,  they  are 
contradictory.    While  Matthew  presents  to  us  the  parents 

2  According  to  Renan,  the  calculation  was  first  made  in  the  sixth  cen- 
tury (by  Denis  the  Less,  upon  hypothetical  data).  (Vie  de  Jesus, 
p.  22,  note  2.) 


98  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

of  Jesus  as  living  in  Bethlehem,  Luke  treats  them  as  in- 
habitants of  Nazareth  who  have  only  come  to  Bethlehem 
on  a  special  occasion,  at  the  time  of  a  census,  and  as  if 
expressly  for  the  child  to  be  born  there.  In  Matthew,  on 
the  contrary,  Bethlehem  is  indeed  the  original  dwelling- 
place  of  Mary  and  Joseph,  and  the  flight  into  Egypt,  caused 
by  the  massacre  of  the  innocents,  and  the  return  under 
Archelaus  are  necessary  to  make  the  family  settle  in 
Nazareth  and  establish  its  final  home  there. 

Which  of  the  two  evangelists  is  right?  Which  is  wrong? 
The  question  is  very  difficult  to  determine.  It  must  be 
noted,  however,  that  throughout  the  rest  of  the  gospels 
Nazareth  is  always  regarded  as  the  native  town  of  Jesus. 
He  is  called  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  The  demoniac  of  the  syna- 
gogue of  Capernaum  exclaims:  "What  have  we  to  do  with 
thee,  Jesus  of  Nazareth?"  (Mark  i,  24).  At  the  time  of 
Peter's  denial  the  servant  of  the  High  Priest  says  to  the 
apostle:  "And  thou  also  wast  with  Jesus  of  Nazareth" 
(Mark  xiv,  67).  The  young  man  at  the  tomb,  addressing 
the  women,  says  to  them:  "Be  not  affrighted:  ye  seek  Jesus 
of  Nazareth,  which  was  crucified;  he  is  risen"  (Mark 
xvi,  6).  According  to  John,  Jesus  was  so  widely  held  to 
have  come  from  Nazareth  that  it  was  made  an  argument 
against  his  being  the  Messiah.  To  those  who  said:  "This 
is  the  Christ,"  others  replied:  "Shall  Christ  come  out  of 
Galilee?  Hath  not  the  scripture  said,  That  Christ  cometh 
of  the  seed  of  David,  and  out  of  the  town  of  Bethlehem, 
where  David  was?"  (John  vii,  41-42). 

Perhaps  this  last  verse  will  provide  us  with  the  key  to 
the  mystery.  According  to  the  Scriptures,  or  more  exactly 
the  prophecy  of  Micah  (v,  i),  the  Messiah  had  to  be  born 
in  Bethlehem.  Did  not  Micah  say:  "But  thou,  Bethlehem 
Ephratah,  though  thou  be  little  among  the  thousands  of 
Judah,  yet  out  of  thee  shall  he  come  forth  unto  me  that  is 


THE  BIRTH  OF  JESUS  99 

to  be  ruler  in  Israel;  whose  goings  forth  have  been  from  of 
old,  from  everlasting?"  * 

Now  it  was  necessary  for  the  prophecies  to  be  fulfilled; 
this  dogmatic  necessity  appealed  to  the  faithful  of  the  first 
Church  with  the  same  force  with  which  it  appeals  to-day 
to  so  many  thousands  of  more  or  less  ignorant  and  sec- 
tarian spirits.  Did  not  the  story  of  the  journey  to  Beth- 
lehem spring  from  this  need  of  a  literal  accord  between  the 
facts  and  the  prophecy?  There  are  many  theologians  who 
hold  this  opinion,  especially  as  it  seems  most  unlikely  that 
a  woman  in  the  condition  in  which  Mary  was,  in  her  ninth 
month  of  pregnancy,  should  have  been  forced  to  make  such 
a  painful  journey  for  a  simple  matter  of  registration,  even 
assuming  that  such  excellent  organisers  as  the  Romans  could 
have  resorted  in  their  census  to  proceedings  that  would  have 
set  whole  populations  in  motion  and  necessitated  such  in- 
convenient comings  and  goings  from  town  to  town. 

However  this  may  be,  and  even  if  we  do  not  admit  the 
unlikelihood  of  the  journey  to  Bethlehem,  the  fact  remains 
that,  regarding  the  birthplace  of  Christ,  there  is  a  discrep- 
ancy between  the  different  gospel  texts,  and  particularly 
between  the  accounts  of  the  nativity  in  Matthew  and  in 
Luke.  Thus  we  have  a  second  reason  for  holding  these 
accounts  in  suspicion  from  the  historical  point  of  view. 

§  3.     THE  CIRCUMSTANCES 

Finally,  we  come  to  the  third  point,  which  will  detain  us 
a  good  deal  longer  than  the  other  two  because  here  the 
recent  investigations  of  psycho-analysis  have  something  to 

^  Cf.  Baldensperger,  G.,  Comment  I'apologetique  de  la  primitive 
Eglise  infliia  sur  la  tradition  des  origines  et  du  ministers  galileen  de 
Jesus,  Rev.  de  theologie  et  de  philosophic,  New  Series  VIII,  34,  p.  21, 
which  places  the  birth  at  Bethlehem  on  a  system  adopted  in  response 
to  Jewish  polemists  who  accused  the  Christian  movement  of  Galileeism 
and  made  a  grievance  of  the  Galilean  origin  of  Jesus. 


loo  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

tell  us  and  are  capable  of  rendering  us  some  assistance. 
This  is  the  question  of  the  circumstances  that  accompanied 
or  conditioned  the  birth  of  Christ.  By  these  I  mean:  the 
Annunciation  to  Mary,  the  flight  into  Egypt,  the  episode 
of  the  wise  men,  that  of  the  shepherds,  and  finally  the 
miraculous  birth,  a  virgin  bringing  forth  a  son,  that  whole 
poem  of  Christmas  which  beguiled  our  childhood  with  its 
solemn,  touching  sweetness  and  still  speaks  to  us  whenever 
December  brings  back  the  anniversary  with  all  its 
memories. 

Legends  is  a  word  which  we  have  perhaps  already  heard 
in  connection  with  all  these  stories.  And  in  the  fear  lest 
anything  should  snatch  away  from  us  a  patrimony  that  has 
given  pleasure  to  our  hearts,  we  have  averted  our  eyes 
from  any  too  close  examination  of  it,  preferring  not  to  know 
what  the  theologians  ^  are  saying  and  to  preserve  the  faith 
of  a  child  who  does  not  question  anything  or  trouble  to 
understand  anything.  Legends:  this  word  strikes  fear  into 
many  a  breast,  because  people  suppose  that  it  is  more  or 
less  synonymous  with  untruth  or  deceit.  We  shall  see  later 
how  we  must  regard  it;  we  shall  then  find  that  above  the 
historical  truth,  the  truth  of  facts,  there  is  a  moral  and 
psychological  truth,  a  truth  of  states  of  mind,  which  can 
only  be  expressed  under  the  cover  of  more  or  less  adequate 
symbols  and  which  must  be  respected  quite  as  much  as  the 
other. 

5  Cf.  Petersen,  E.,  Die  wunderbare  Gehurt  des  Heilandes.  Tubingen, 
1909,  pp.  47. 

Maurenbrecher,  M.,  Weihnachtsgeschichfen.    Berlin,  1910,  pp.  57. 

Saintyves,  p.,  Les  vierges  meres  et  les  naissances  miraculeuses. 
Essai  de  mytliologie  comparce.     Paris,  1908,  pp.  288. 

Steinmetzer,  F.,  Die  Geschichte  dcr  Gehurt  und  Kindheit  Christi 
und  ihr  Verhdltnis  zur  babylonischen  Mythologie.  Miinster,  1910,  pp. 
218. 

Lobstein,  p.,  Etudes  christologigues.  Le  dogm^  de  la  natssance 
miraculeuse  du  Christ.     1890. 

Steinmann,  a..  Die  jungfrduUche  Gehurt  des  Herrn.  Biblische 
Zeitfragen,  2nd  ed.,  1917. 


THE  BIRTH  OF  JESUS  loi 

For  the  moment,  however,  let  us  speak  of  facts  and  his- 
torical verity.  From  this  point  of  view  it  must  indeed  be 
confessed  that  the  circumstances  narrated  by  our  gospels 
in  connection  with  the  birth  of  Jesus  do  not  accord  very 
well  with  the  rest  of  these  same  gospels.  When  one  con- 
siders the  problem  a  little  more  closely  in  detail,  one  readily 
understands  my  point. 

Let  us  suppose,  for  the  moment,  that  the  Annunciation, 
for  example,  took  place  in  the  manner  in  which  it  has  been 
described  to  us.  We  can  easily  imagine  the  amazement  that 
Mary  must  have  felt  under  the  shock  of  what  was  announced 
to  her.  What  an  event  would  be  the  authentic  apparition 
of  an  angel,  and  an  angel  predicting  to  you  such  things  as 
these!  How  does  it  happen,  then,  that  Mary  never  makes 
a  single  allusion  to  it  later;  and  not  only  this,  but  that  she 
seems  to  have  forgotten  it?  We  might  plead  here  as 
logically  admissible  a  sort  of  modesty,  the  sense  that  hung 
over  her  of  the  solemn  character  of  her  life  and  that  of 
her  son.  This  reason  has,  in  fact,  been  effectively  pleaded 
to  explain  why  Jesus  knew  nothing  of  his  miraculous  birth, 
why  he  never  spoke  of  it,  and  why  he  never  so  much  as 
once  referred  to  it,  even  in  the  intimacy  of  the  circle  of  the 
disciples,  why  he  never  suggested  its  possibility.  This 
again  is  conceivable.  It  might  be  admitted  that  Mary 
never  allowed  the  secret  to  pass  her  lips,  that  she  guarded 
in  the  depths  of  her  soul  the  mystery  that  was  at  once  to 
cover  her  with  honour  and  pierce  her  to  the  heart.  But 
it  is  inadmissible  that  she  could  have  forgotten  what  made 
this  birth  the  supreme  event  of  her  life;  and  this  is  what 
the  reading  of  the  gospels  proves  to  us  beyond  peradven- 
ture.  On  a  certain  day,  at  a  critical  hour  in  the  ministry 
of  Jesus,  his  mother  and  his  brothers  set  out  in  search  of 
him,  with  the  intention  of  restraining  him  because,  in  their 
eyes,  he  was  "beside  himself"  (Mark  iii,  21  and  31):  ''And 


I02  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

when  his  friends  heard  of  it"  (and  what  they  had  heard  of 
was  the  prodigious  success  of  Jesus)  "they  went  out  to  lay 
hold  on  him:  for  they  said,  He  is  beside  himself."  And 
a  little  further  on:  "There  came  then  his  brethren  and 
his  mother,  and,  standing  without,  sent  unto  him,  calling 
him." 

This,  it  seems  to  me,  is  a  decisive  argument  from  the 
psychological  point  of  view.  A  mother  who  had  undergone 
what  Mary  is  supposed  to  have  undergone,  who  had  expe- 
rienced the  Annunciation,  then  the  mysterious  conception 
of  the  Spirit,  would  not  have  set  out  to  seek  her  son,  thirty 
years  later,  believing  him  mad.  Such  occurrences  would 
have  marked  this  son  in  her  eyes  with  an  inalienably  divine 
dignity.  There  are  experiences  which  may  be  doubted,  but 
this  experience,  at  once  physical  and  moral,  through  which 
Mary  is  said  by  the  gospels  to  have  passed,  is  not  of  that 
number.  The  sovereign  impression  which  it  would  have 
produced  could  not,  for  a  single  instant,  have  left  room  for 
doubt.®  To  establish  this  m.ust  we  add  other  proofs?  The 
very  accounts  which  we  are  discussing  furnish  them.  Every 
one  has  read  the  two  genealogies  of  Jesus  which  Matthew 
and  Luke  give  us;  but  has  it  been  observed  that  they  both 
end,  not  in  Mary,  as  we  ought  to  expect,  but  in  Joseph,  who 
is  thus  clearly  regarded  here  as  the  real  father  of  Jesus? 
If,  in  the  last  analysis,  he  had  not  been  the  father,  if  he 
had  been  only  the  adoptive  father,  what  would  have  been 
the  use  of  these  genealogical  researches,  the  object  of  which 
is  to  show  us  how  Jesus  was  descended  from  David? 

The  gospel  genealogies  are  therefore  in  direct  contradic- 
tion to  the  miraculous  birth  of  Jesus  through  Mary  and  the 
Holy  Ghost.    What  can  we  conclude  save  that  the  miracu- 

"  Similarly,  how  is  it  possible  that,  when  Jesus  was  twelve  years  old, 
Mary  should  not  have  understood  what  he  meant  when  he  said  to 
her,  "I  must  be  about  my  Father's  business,"  if  she  had  known  beyond 
doubt  that  this  father  was  God?     (Cf.  Luke  ii,  50.) 


THE  BIRTH  OF  JESUS  103 

lous  birth  did  not  form  part  of  the  primitive  account  which 
Luke  and  Matthew  consulted  in  order  to  write  the  begin- 
ning of  their  gospels,  that  some  addition  had  been  made  to 
it,  and  that  the  evangelists,  in  their  simple  good  faith,  never 
realised  that  one  portion  of  their  narrative  contradicted 
another,  the  one  tending  to  connect  the  authority  of  Christ 
with  his  Davidic  descent,  the  other  with  his  divine  and 
superhuman  birth?  In  the  remainder  of  the  gospels  it  ap- 
pears, we  may  add,  as  if  this  birth  through  the  Holy  Ghost 
had  been  forgotten.  They  speak  to  us  (Luke  ii,  27  and  41) 
of  the  "parents"  of  Jesus,  of  his  "father"  and  his  "mother," 
without  any  restriction/  Let  us  add  that  there  is  no  doubt 
that  Saint  Paul  was  completely  ignorant  of  the  tradition 
that  Jesus  was  born  of  a  virgin;  he  does  not  speak  of  it. 
Nor  do  the  two  oldest  sources  of  the  gospel,  that  is,  Mark 
and  the  Logia,  breathe  a  word  of  it. 

Passing  now  from  the  Annunciation  and  the  miraculous 
birth  to  the  other  stories,  we  turn  to  the  incident  of  the  wise 
men  and  that  of  the  shepherds,  only  to  stumble  upon  similar 
difficulties  if  we  make  the  least  attempt  to  find  anything 
strictly  historical  in  them.  Is  it  to  be  imagined  that  Pales- 
tinian shepherds  who  had  experienced  an  emotion  and  a 
revelation  like  those  related  to  us,  who,  in  the  midst  of  a 
night's  vigil,  had  seen  angels  descending  from  heaven  to 
tell  them  where  the  Messiah  was  being  born,  would  never 
have  spoken  of  it  afterwards?  Is  it  not  much  easier  to 
imagine  them  continuing  to  keep  track  of  this  child,  going 
to  see  what  was  becoming  of  him,  above  all,  at  the  time  of 
his  public  appearance,  mingling  enthusiastically  in  the 
crowd  of  his  admirers,  repeating  their  testimony  to  the  latter 
and  relating  what  had  happened  to  them?  But  not  a  word 
more  is  said  about  this:  all  the  gospels  preserve  a  profound 
silence  on  the  subject.    There  is  no  suggestion  of  the  shep- 

'^  Cf.  also  Luke  ii,  3^  and  48. 


I04  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

herds  joining  the  first  Christian  group.  This  silence  is  sur- 
prising, to  say  the  least,  and  it  is  curious  that  it  has  not  been 
more  often  remarked  upon. 

As  much  may  be  said  of  those  mysterious  personages  as 
to  whom  we  are  not  sure  whether  they  were  astrologers, 
magicians  or  kings,  and  whom  later  legends  have  clothed 
with  all  sorts  of  attributes,  even  representing  one  of  them 
as  a  negro  and  baptising  all  three  with  high-sounding  names. 
Whence  did  they  come,  these  personages,  and  whither  did 
they  go?  We  must  confess  that  it  is  difficult  to  understand 
why,  if  they  had  been  so  miraculously  informed  of  the  birth 
of  a  little  child  who  was  to  perform  so  unique  a  work  in  the 
world,  they  should  have  taken  such  pains  to  visit  his  cradle 
and  so  little  later  to  come  and  see  his  work.  But,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  shepherds,  we  hear  nothing  more  of  the  wise 
men.  If,  later,  they  had  been  too  old  to  come  back  from 
the  depths  of  the  Orient,  at  least  they  might  have  sent 
emissaries  to  inquire  about  Jesus;  and  such  an  embassy 
would  have  made  an  impression ;  it  would  have  been  spoken 
of.  But  not  a  word  do  the  gospels  say  of  all  this,  evidently 
because  nothing  of  the  kind,  nothing  approaching  it,  oc- 
curred. The  wise  men  vanish  and  all  memory  of  them  is 
lost.  Their  caskets  of  frankincense  and  myrrh  and  their 
offerings  of  gold  are  not  spread  out  a  second  time  at  the  feet 
of  Christ.  Does  all  this  ring  with  the  clear  sound  of  his- 
tory?   It  does  not  seem  to  do  so. 

Must  we  then  renounce  the  poetry  of  Christmas?  Must 
we  surrender  these  tales  of  the  birth  whose  tender  and  sub- 
lime language  spoke  in  so  marvellous  a  fashion  to  our  child- 
hood? Because  we  have  to  recognise  their  legendary  char- 
acter, are  we  obliged  to  deny  that  they  have  any  value  and 
set  them  aside? 

By  no  means!    It  is  just  here  that  psychology  intervenes 


THE  BIRTH  OF  JESUS  105 

to  show  us  the  value  and  the  sort  of  value  that  can  be 
attributed  to  legendary  tales,  to  show  us  what  they  signify 
and  how,  while  they  do  not  belong  to  exact  history,  they 
yet  form  a  part  of  the  eternal  history  of  the  human  soul. 
Born  of  the  deep,  instinctive  needs  of  the  heart  of  the  race, 
legends,  myths  and  fairy-tales  are  not  merely  amusing 
stories,  invented  at  haphazard.  Under  their  fanciful  aspect 
they  convey  in  outline  truths  that  are  sometimes  more  pro- 
found than  historical  verity.  To  support  these  statements 
let  us  now  attempt  to  sum  up  rapidly  the  discoveries  which 
psycho-analysis  is  beginning  to  make  in  this  domain,  relat- 
ing the  results,  as  far  as  possible,  to  these  stories  which  we 
have  just  been  considering. 

§  4.     PSYCHO-ANALYSIS   AND  THE   STUDY  OF   MYTHS 
AND    LEGENDS 

In  order  that  he  may  thoroughly  understand  what  is  to 
follow  I  must  first  refer  the  reader  to  the  preceding  pages 
in  which  we  have  tried  to  indicate  the  general  meaning  of 
psycho-analysis.*  It  is  important  also  to  remember  that 
the  following  lines  are  merely  a  resume,  too  concise  to  be 
entirely  clear,  of  a  series  of  large  and  closely  packed  works 
that  is  being  supplemented  every  day.  In  fact,  the  inde- 
fatigable pioneers  who  are  carrying  on  this  method  of 
analysis  are  unweariedly  applying  it  to  every  possible  sub- 
ject. Following  the  neuroses  and  dreams,  the  study  of 
myths,  fairy-tales,  legends  and  folklore  has  solicited  their 
attention.  The  field  was  a  vast  one,  for  this  form  of  lit- 
erature is  found  scattered  in  profusion  among  all  the  peo- 
ples of  the  earth.  Let  us  try  to  see  what  new  light  psycho- 
analysis has  shed  over  this  particular  domain. 

8  Cf.  Introduction,  pp.  xviii-xxix. 


io6  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

Up  to  the  time  of  its  appearance  three  great  theories  had 
been  held  regarding  the  formation  of  myths.^ 

1.  The  first  is  associated  with  the  name  of  Adolf  Bas- 
tian/°  This  is  called  the  theory  of  elementary  ideas.  Ac- 
cording to  this  theory,  men  of  all  the  regions  of  the  earth 
and  all  the  human  races  have  virtually  the  same  elementary 
ideas.  In  the  beginning,  the  stock  of  thoughts,  representa- 
tions, images  of  any  one  people  is  not  very  considerable; 
and  this  stock,  this  psychic  store,  is  about  the  same  with 
them  all.  It  is  identical  in  its  composition  in  the  different 
races,  however  widely  separated  they  may  be.  It  is  not 
astonishing,  then,  that  the  stories  of  the  gods,  the  legends 
of  the  heroes,  and  the  fairy-tales  should  have  been  found  to 
be  the  same  everywhere,  with  superficial  variations  only. 

2.  Another  theory  is  that  of  the  community  of  origin  of 
the  myths."  According  to  this  theory,  all  the  myths  have 
come  from  the  same  country  and  from  a  single  family  of 
peoples:  India  and  the  Indo-Germanic  races.  Thence  they 
have  passed  on,  completely  formed,  to  the  other  peoples, 
with  modifications  suited  to  the  genius  of  each. 

3.  Finally,  the  most  modern  theory  is  that  of  the 
migration  or  the  adoption  of  myths.^"    The  myths  travelled 

9  See  Rank,  O.,  Dcr  Mythus  von  der  Geburt  des  Helden.  Versuch 
einer  psychologischen  Mythcndcutting.  Schriften  zur  angewandten 
Seelenkunde.     Heft  V,  1909,  pp.  93. 

WuNDT,  Vblkerpsychologie,  Bd.  II,  Mythus  und  Religion,  Teil  I. 
Leipzig,  1901,  pp.  527  et  seqq. 

Van  Gennep,  Was  ist  Mythus?  Internat.  Wochenschrift  fiir  Wis- 
senschaft,  Kunst  und  Technik.     4.  1910,  pp.  1167-1174. 

Ehrenreich,  Die  allgenieine  Mythologie  und  ihre  •ethnologischen 
Grundlagen.     1910. 

10  Das  Bestdndige  in  den  Menschenrassen  und  die  Spielweise  ihrer 
V-erdnderlichkeit.  Berlin,  1868.— Cf.  also  Bauer,  Ad.,  Die  Kyros-Sage 
und  Verwandtcs.  Sitzungsgeber  der  Wiener  Akad.  der  Wissenschaft. 
Bd.  100,   1882,  pp.  495  et  seqq. 

11  Cf.  Benfey,  Th.,  Pantschatantra,  2  vol.  1859.— Schubert,  R., 
Herodots  Darstellung  dcr  Cyrussage.    Breslau,  1890. 

12  Stucken,  Ed.,  Astrahnythen.  Leipzig,  1896,  1907.— Lessmann,  H., 
Z>iV  Kyrossage  in  Europa.  Beilage  zum  Jahresbericht  der  stadtischen 
Realschule   zu  Charlottenburg,   Easter,   1906.— Bi{.\un,  Naturgeschichte 


THE  BIRTH  OF  JESUS  107 

from  one  people  to  another.  They  came,  for  the  most  part, 
from  the  Babylonians,  and  were  propagated  by  oral  tradi- 
tion and  especially  as  the  result  of  industrial  relations  and 
literary  influences.  This  theory  is  only  a  modification  of 
the  preceding  one  in  the  light  of  recent  discoveries. 

But  we  must  go  further.  Even  supposing  that  these 
theories  are  partially  true,  one  question  still  remains  to  be 
answered:  that  of  the  first  origin  of  these  myths.  Assum- 
ing that  they  came  from  a  single  group  of  peoples,  where 
did  this  group  find  them?  How  did  they  happen  to  be  born 
in  this  group?  One  mythologist,  Schubert,  would  have 
them  all  go  back  to  a  single  model;  but  he  does  not  know 
where  this  model  came  from.  If,  on  the  contrary,  we  re- 
gard them  as  multiple,  which  seems  more  prudent,  it  appears 
reasonable  to  suppose  that  they  sprang  from  the  observa- 
tion of  nature  and  the  observation  of  the  stars  in  particular. 
This  last  tendency  is  the  most  widely  spread  to-day.  The 
myths  are  all  supposed  to  be  astral  myths  (astral  theory). 
Some  authors  have  even  reached  the  conclusion  that  all  the 
myths  are  solar  or  lunar  myths. 

This  astral  theory,  however,  while  it  satisfies  us  from 
certain  points  of  view  and  provides  us  with  interesting 
parallels,  tells  us  nothing  about  the  motives  that  impelled 
man  to  construct  the  myths.  Why  should  he  have  attri- 
buted such  importance  to  the  movements  of  the  stars? 
Why  should  he  have  built  up  such  singular  stories  in  con- 
nection with  them?  Here  psycho-analysis  intervenes  and 
gives  us  a  most  interesting  answer. 

Psycho-analysis  maintains  that  it  was  by  no  means  the 
observation  of  the  stars  which  impelled  man  to  compose 

der  Sage,  2  vol.,  Munich,  1864-65. — Winckler,  Die  babylonische  Geis- 
teskultur  in  ihren  Bczichimgcn  zur  Kulturentivickhing  der  Menschheit. 
Wissenschaft  iind  Bildung,  Vol.  15,  Leipzig,  1907.— Lang,  Myth,  Litera- 
ture _  and  Religion,  London,  1887. — Reinach,  S.,  Cultes,  mythes  et 
religions.  Paris,  Leroux,  igoS,  4  vol. — Van  Gennep,  La  formation  de 
la  legende. 


io8  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

the  myths.  The  myth  came  from  a  very  much  deeper 
source;  it  was  the  direct  product  of  the  infantile  Hfe  of 
man.  Men,  or  rather  peoples,  have  given  scope  in  their 
myths  to  the  representations,  the  ideas,  the  images  and 
especially  the  desires  which  have  constituted  the  psychic 
life  of  their  childhood.  The  myth  is  related  to  the  dream; 
it  is,  in  a  sense,  the  dream  of  peoples.  It  is  only  later  that 
this  dream  is  projected  into  the  stars;  and  why?  For  a 
reason  that  is  very  simple,  although  it  has  escaped  all  the 
mythologists.  It  is  because  what  comes  out  of  the  instinc- 
tive life  of  man  is  not  always  very  edifying.  Man  is  apt 
to  be  ashamed  of  the  tendencies  which  are  at  work  in  the 
depths  of  his  unconscious  and  which  only  emerge  under 
favour  of  sleep.  These  things  scandalise  him.  He  drives 
them  away  from  him  as  far  as  possible;  he  projects  them 
into  the  stars,  into  the  very  firmament.  The  astral  theory 
of  the  myth  is  therefore  not  entirely  false,  provided  that  we 
complete  it.  The  myth  only  becomes  astral  for  the  purpose 
of  veiling  or  concealing  the  intimate  relation  it  bears  to  the 
very  essence  of  the  human  soul.  The  astrality  of  the  myth 
is  one  more  result  of  the  censor. 

It  must  be  confessed  that  this  new  theory  of  the  myth  is 
extremely  attractive.  The  myth  here  becomes  the  dream 
of  peoples.  This  means  that  it  plays,  in  relation  to  nations, 
the  same  role  which  the  dream  plays  with  individuals,  and 
that  it  is  the  result  of  an  analogous  process. 

Now  in  the  dream,  as  we  recall,  psycho-analysis  has  dis- 
covered a  product  of  the  repression  of  man's  primordial 
instincts  by  the  censor.  These  instincts  emerge  under  a 
disguise  during  sleep,  and  thus  relieve  the  dreamer  of  the 
dead  weight  that  has  lain  upon  his  soul.  Myths,  legends 
and  fairy-tales  owe  their  existence  to  a  similar  process. 
They  also  are  the  product  of  the  deep,  instinctive  life  which 
stirs  in  the  subconsciousness  of  the  race. 


THE  BIRTH  OF  JESUS  109 

There  is,  in  fact,  in  humanity  as  a  whole  a  subconscious 
life  containing,  in  the  potential  state,  the  immense  gamut 
of  all  the  possibilities  of  good  and  evil  which  tend  to  realise 
themselves.  Constantly  flung  back  into  the  depths  as  a 
result  of  the  exigencies  of  life  in  society,  this  instinctive 
urge  seeks  to  force  its  way  out.  It  succeeds  in  moments  of 
conscious  dreaming  such  as  hours  of  poetic  creation.  At 
these  times  the  imagination,  embroidering  the  most  diverse 
themes,  does  not  work,  as  is  commonly  supposed,  aimlessly 
and  by  chance.  Under  various  trappings  it  always  brings 
upon  the  scene  the  same  actors.  It  always  expresses  in  the 
different  stories  the  same  desires.  It  paints  in  images  which 
are  sometimes  veritable  conundrums,  highly  complicated 
and  multiform,  the  human  drama  par  excellence,  that  of  the 
soul  at  grips  with  life.  This  drama,  however,  is  usually 
enacted  under  the  colours  in  which  it  was  lived  for  the  first 
time,  the  colours  of  childhood. 

The  myth  is  the  reproduction  of  what  Freud  has  called 
the  family-complex,  which  might  also  be  called  the  drama 
of  childhood,  a  drama  which  may  be  and  may  remain  the 
schema  of  everything  that  is  most  abject  in  crime  and  most 
bestial  in  desire,  but  which  may  also  become,  through  sub- 
limation, the  purest  and  most  magnificent  moral  tragedy. 
To  express  it  in  other  and  better  terms,  we  may  think  of 
man,  the  human  personality,  as  a  cluster  of  energies  apply- 
ing themselves  to  some  matter,  some  substance;  we  may 
then  say  that  the  family-complex  constitutes  the  initial 
design  formed  by  this  group  of  energies  when  it  is  applied 
for  the  first  time  to  the  different  relations  which  appear  to 
the  child  in  his  relational  life  with  others.  Quite  instinc- 
tively at  first  these  energies  burst  forth  between  the  poles, 
hate-love;  or  at  least  it  is  by  these  names  that  we  may  des- 
ignate their  first  expression  in  order  to  represent  their  vio- 
lence and  the  contradictoriness  of  their  movements.     But 


no  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

we  must  remember  that  we  ourselves  colour  these  same 
words  hate  and  love  with  a  tonality  into  which  there  enter 
as  elements  the  results  of  our  long  experience  as  adults. 
We  must,  in  thought,  exclude  all  these  things  that  are  con- 
tributed by  our  later  experience  and  then  consider  these 
forces  in  the  family-complex  not  as  brutal  in  the  pejorative 
sense  of  the  word,  but  as  primitive,  that  is  to  say,  envelop- 
ing in  themselves  all  the  possibilities  of  a  brutal  develop- 
ment as  well  as  all  those  of  a  marvellous  spiritual  ascension. 
But  exactly  what  are  we  to  understand  by  this  term 
family-complex?  Briefly,  Freud  claims  to  have  discovered 
the  following:  in  every  child,  in  the  first  primitive  stage  of 
its  existence,  we  discover,  as  the  foundation  of  life,  two 
great  elements,  hatred  of  the  father,  love  of  the  mother. 
These  are  the  two  great  psychological  directions  of  desire, 
admirably  symbolised  and  given  concrete  form  in  the  myth 
and  the  drama  of  (Edipus  who,  by  an  inexorable  destiny,  is 
led  to  kill  his  father  and  marry  his  mother.  Because  of 
this,  Freud  suggests  the  name  of  (Edipus-complex  for  this 
primitive  constellation  of  the  feelings.  It  is  evident,  as  I 
have  already  said,  that  we  must  not  take  these  words,  hatred 
of  the  father,  love  of  the  mother,  in  the  literal  sense  which 
we  give  them  in  our  adult  language.  The  child  cannot  hate 
as  a  criminal  hates  or  love  as  a  lover  loves.  His  hatred  is 
expressed  by  the  simple  desire  to  get  rid  of  the  father  whose 
mere  presence  is  a  perpetual  obstacle  to  the  caresses  of  the 
mother.  The  father  takes  the  mother's  attention,  he 
monopolises  her;  he  thus  becomes  an  obstruction,  a  dis- 
agreeable and  annoying  obstacle,  an  object  which  the  child 
dislikes,  which  makes  him  weep  and  cry,  which  must  be  got 
out  of  his  life.  The  mother,  on  the  contrary,  is  the  object 
in  which  everything  that  is  sweet  is  concentrated;  it  is  she 
whom  the  child  desires  and  towards  whom  he  leans  with  all 
the  force  of  his  instinct.    This,  roughly,  is  what  is  meant 


THE  BIRTH  OF  JESUS  in 

by  the  (Edipus-complex;  this  is  the  meaning  of  the  family- 
complex/^ 

In  the  course  of  the  child's  development,  these  feelings, 
desires  and  tendencies  conflict  and  are  transformed  into 
violent  impulsions,  which  are  presently  repressed  in  a 
measure  by  education  and  the  censor,  but  which  persist  in 
the  subconscious  life,  always  ready  to  make  their  way  out. 
Dreams  and  poetry,  which  is  a  sort  of  waking  dream,  act 
as  safety-valves,  and  serve  to  give  them  free  play.  For 
this  reason  we  find  in  almost  all  myths  and  in  a  large 


13  It  is  well  to  note  here  the  modifications  of  Freud's  ideas  sug- 
gested by  Professor  Flournoy : 

"I  would  suggest,"  he  says,  "that  the  great  law  discovered  by  Freud 
— that  all  individuals,  even  those  who  are  normal,  possess  or  have  pos- 
sessed unawares  in  their  subconscious,  from  their  earliest  infancy,  the 
(Edipus-complex  (incestuous  love  for  their  mother,  mortal  hatred  for 
their  father) — that  this  law,  which  seems  so  incredible  at  first  sight, 
is  certainly  true  in  its  generality,  on  condition,  however,  that  in  many 
cases  it  is  interpreted  in  a  fashion  that  is  doubly  or  triply  metaphorical, 
which  often  enlarges  or  attenuates  its  literal  meaning:  i.  It  is  necessary 
to  take  the  expression  Qldipus-complex  as  a  general  denomination 
which  also  embraces  its  opposite,  the  Electra-complex  (incestuous  love 
for  the  father,  mortal  hatred  for  the  mother)  which  is  probably  the 
more  habitual  case  with  women,  given  the  opposite  attraction  of  the 
sexes.  2.  Save  for  individual  exceptions  (neuropaths,  etc.)  we  must 
not  take  at  their  face  value  such  expressions  as  incest  and  death,  by 
which  we  are  led  retrospectively  to  attribute  to  infancy  feelings  and 
ideas  which,  properly  speaking,  could  have  their  full  meaning  only  in 
the  adult.  For  the  little  child  this  signifies  merely  its  double  desire 
to  enjoy  as  much  as  possible  and  to  suppress  whatever  stands  in  its 
way.  3.  The  two  parents  themselves  must  often  be  regarded  figura- 
tively, as  symbolic  personifications,  signifying,  on  the  one  hand,  the 
intense  and  inveterate  attachment  of  the  individual  to  everything  which, 
in  his  infancy,  represents  for  him  tenderness,  protection,  help,  the 
physical  or  moral  joys  and  comforts  of  the  home ;  on  the  other  hand, 
his  repulsion  for  the  persons  or  things  about  him  that  thwarted  his  de- 
sires and  revealed  to  him  thus  early  the  hard  necessities  of  life. — 
Understood  in  this  way,  the  CEdipus-complex  (or  family-complex) 
often  comes  to  signify  nothing  more  than  the  conflict  in  every  human 
being  between  the  principles  of  enjoyment  and  reality,  or  the  opposi- 
tion between  pleasure  and  duty,  liberty  and  obligation,  the  I  and  the 
not-I,  etc.  All  these  pairs  of  opposites,  resulting  in  a  fundamental  emo- 
tional dualism  in  human  nature,  or  the  ambivalence  of  all  objects  of 
experience,  may,  in  fact,  be  condensed  into  the  primitive  antithesis  of 
the  mother,  incarnating  goodness,  and  the  father,  representing  the 
severe  necessities  of  the  real  world."  {Une  mystique  moderne,  Arch, 
de  Psychol.  XV,  191 5,  pp.  200-201.) 


112  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

number  of  legends  and  fairy-tales  the  outstanding  features 
of  the  infantile  family-complex  together  with  many  sec- 
ondary features  that  appear  to  be  consequences  of  them. 
There  is  in  every  child  the  stuff  of  a  born  criminal  or  an 
epic  hero.  Everything  depends  on  the  direction  and  the 
outlet  that  are  to  be  given  to  the  hidden  tendencies  of  his 
inner  nature.  If  they  remain  in  the  crude  stage  of  instincts, 
they  will  be  repressed  by  the  moral  law  of  society  and  will 
reappear  sooner  or  later  under  the  form  of  neuroses  which 
lacerate  and  weaken  the  personality.  If,  on  the  contrary, 
they  are  led  to  a  higher  plane,  subjected  to  lofty  and  noble 
ends,  directed  towards  aims  that  are  useful  to  humanity,  if, 
in  a  word,  they  are  sublimated,  then  life  takes  on  a  new 
meaning  and  the  man  fulfils  the  human  task  which  has  been 
assigned  to  him  in  this  world  with  a  joy  hitherto  unknown 
to  him. 

Psycho-analysis,  which  is  simply  a  method  for  discover- 
ing and  revealing  to  man  what  is  within  him  and  how  he 
may  make  use  of  his  hidden  energies,  has  thus  utilized  the 
myth  and  the  legend,  as  it  has  utilized  the  dream,  in  the 
interest  of  this  quest  and  this  revelation.  Among  the  savage 
peoples,  in  Greek  antiquity,  in  the  legends  of  the  peoples 
of  the  north,  it  has  discovered  a  type  of  myth  which  is  con- 
stant and  always  the  same.  Rank  "  summarises  its  chief 
features  as  follows: 

1.  The  hero  is  born  of  illustrious  parents  (divine,  royal 
or  celebrated). 

2.  His  birth  is  rendered  difficult  by  the  prediction  of 
some  misfortune,  an  evil  omen,  an  obstacle  of  some  kind. 

3.  His  birth  having  taken  place,  the  child  is  generally 
exposed;  they  want  to  get  rid  of  him. 

4.  But  he  is  saved  or  adopted  and  brought  up  by  people 

1*  Rank,  Der  Mythus  von  der  Gcburt  des  Helden.     Schriften  zur 
angew.     Seelenkunde.    Heft  5,  Leipzig,  1909. 


THE  BIRTH  OF  JESUS  113 

inferior  to  his  parents,  very  often  shepherds  or  gardeners, 
people  of  the  lower  classes,  or  somethnes  by  animals  (the 
wolf  of  Romulus  and  Remus). 

5.  After  a  number  of  episodes,  which  vary  in  the  dif- 
ferent myths,  the  hero  ends  by  finding  again  his  true 
parents;  he  is  restored  to  his  original  rights  and  his  destiny 
is  fulfilled. 

Now  all  these  features  are  simply  those  of  the  family- 
complex,  more  or  less  embellished.  What  happens  is  that, 
at  the  very  beginning  of  life,  the  little  child,  surrounded 
with  caresses  and  tenderness,  expands  with  happiness. 
Friction,  however,  soon  appears;  he  undergoes,  more  or  less 
unconsciously,  disappointments  that  are  engraved  with  in- 
effacable  lines  in  the  soft  wax  of  his  memory.  There  are 
moments  when  his  parents  are  occupied  with  other  tasks 
that  claim  their  attention,  and  he  has  the  impression  of 
being  abandoned,  set  aside;  the  result  is  suffering  and 
humihation.  The  baby  cries  in  its  cradle  and  falls  into  a 
rage.  Revolt  and  hatred  are  born  in  its  heart,  and  this, 
naturally  enough,  against  the  persons  who  separate  him 
from  his  mother,  the  source  of  every  comfort  and  every 
caress,  against  the  father,  that  is,  and  the  brothers  and 
sisters  of  whom  he  becomes  jealous. 

A  little  later,  the  child  compares  what  happens  in  his 
own  family  with  what  happens  in  the  families  of  neigh- 
bours or  relatives.  His  sufferings,  which  have  been  very 
serious  (we  adults  are  inclined  to  laugh  at  them,  but  to  the 
child  they  are  the  most  serious  realities  in  the  world;  we 
have  only  to  observe  with  what  sincerity,  what  an  absolute 
assent  of  his  whole  nature,  he  weeps  or  grows  angry),  his 
sufferings  do  not  incline  him  to  be  impartial  in  his  com- 
parisons between  his  own  family  and  other  families.  He 
sees  that  the  rich  people,  the  powerful  people,  the  princes 
whose  stories  are  told  him,  are  happier  than  he,  or  he  be- 


114  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

lieves  them  to  be  so.  Envy  springs  up  in  him;  and  the 
more  it  grows,  the  more  he  desires  to  have  other  parents. 
He  wonders  whether  he  is  not  in  reality  the  son  of  other 
persons,  a  foster-child  who  has  been  abandoned  by  his  real 
father  and  mother  and  adopted  by  those  who  now  occupy 
their  place.  This  psychological  process  is  very  common. 
Innumerable  are  the  persons  who  can  remember  that  at  a 
certain  moment  in  their  life  this  idea  occurred  to  them.  In 
contact  with  the  first  hardships  of  existence,  the  child 
quickly  comes  to  feel  that  he  has  been  duped,  deceived  by 
life,  that  he  was  destined  for  a  royal  or  otherwise  extraor- 
dinary career  which  has  been  snatched  from  him.  "Kings," 
said  Pascal,  speaking  of  men,  "but  fallen  kings!"  Later  we 
translate  this  same  feeling  into  our  lamentations  on  the  in- 
justices of  fate. 

The  myth  and  the  legend  thus  give  scope,  under  the  form 
of  symbols,  to  the  family-complex  which,  in  a  more  or  less 
unconscious  fashion,  plays  its  part  at  the  outset  of  every 
child's  life.  A  few  examples  will  help  us  to  understand 
the  connection  better. 

The  Legend  of  Sargon. — A  cuneiform  inscription,  discovered 
not  long  since,  tells  us  the  legend  of  Sargon.  In  certain  aspects 
it  resembles  that  of  Moses.  Sargon  was  the  son  of  a  vestal 
virgin  and  had  never  known  his  father.  His  mother  placed  him 
in  a  basket  of  rushes,  smeared  with  pitch,  and  exposed  him  on 
the  Euphrates.  The  basket  was  picked  up  by  a  gardener  who 
adopted  the  child.  The  goddess  Ishtar  cast  her  eyes  upon  him; 
he  became  king  and  reigned  forty-five  years. 

The  Legend  of  Perseus. — Acrisios,  king  of  Argos,  was  already 
old  and  had  no  male  descendants.  As  he  desired  a  son,  he  con- 
sulted the  Delphic  oracle  which  promised  him  that  his  daughter 
Danae  would  give  birth  to  a  son,  adding,  however,  that  Acrisios 
would  die  by  his  hand.  In  order  to  avert  this  fate  he  shut  his 
daughter  up.  But  this  did  not  prevent  Zeus  from  rendering 
her  a  mother  by  means  of  a  ray  of  sunlight  that  passed  through 


THE  BIRTH  OF  JESUS  115 

the  roof  of  the  building  in  which  she  was.  Danae  had  a  son. 
The  father  thereupon  avenged  himself  by  putting  tlie  nurse  to 
death.  Then,  refusing  to  believe  Danae,  who  told  him  that 
Zeus  was  the  father  of  her  son  Perseus,  Acrisios  caused  her  to  be 
placed  with  her  son  in  a  chest  and  flung  into  the  sea.  The  chest 
was  picked  up  by  the  fisherman  Dictys,  who  was  said  to  be  the 
brother  of  the  king  Polydectes.  Polydectes  fell  in  love  with 
Danae  and  tried  to  get  rid  of  the  child  Perseus  by  sending  him 
to  cut  off  the  head  of  the  Gorgon  Medusa.  But  Perseus  succeeded 
in  doing  this.  Later,  when  he  was  playing  at  disks  one  day 
he  chanced  to  kill  his  grandfather;  he  became  king  of  Argos 
and  Tyrinth  and  finally  built  Mycenae. 

The  Legend  of  Cyrus. — Astyages,  king  of  the  Medes,  had  a 
daughter  Mandane.  Once  in  a  dream  he  saw  so  much  water 
issuing  from  her  that  his  whole  capital  was  filled  and  all  Asia 
was  submerged.  The  wise  men  gave  him  the  explanation  of  his 
dream.  In  order  to  avoid  its  realisation,  Astyages  gave  Mandane 
in  marriage  to  a  Persian,  Cambyses.  Then  he  had  a  new  dream 
which  frightened  him  still  more.  Mandane  was  pregnant  and 
Astyages  dreamed  that  he  saw  issuing  from  his  daughter  a  vine 
shoot  which  overshadowed  all  Asia.  The  wise  men  explained 
the  dream;  it  signified  that  the  son  of  Mandane  would  become 
king  in  the  place  of  Astyages.  To  avert  this  misfortune  Astyages, 
when  Cyrus  was  born,  sent  for  his  relative  Harpagos  and  gave 
Cyrus  to  him,  with  the  command  that  he  was  to  make  away  with 
him.  Harpagos,  afraid  to  kill  the  child,  turned  him  over  to  a 
shepherd,  Mithridates,  with  orders  to  expose  him  on  the  moun- 
tain. But  Mithridates,  on  returning  home,  found  that  his  wife 
had  given  birth  to  a  dead  child.  They  placed  the  dead  child 
in  a  basket,  with  the  garments  of  Cyrus,  and  exposed  this.  Then 
they  brought  Cyrus  up  as  their  own  child. 

When  he  was  twelve  years  old,  Cyrus,  playing  with  the  village 
children,  was  chosen  king  by  them.  One  of  his  comrades,  the 
son  of  Artembarus,  an  honourable  Mede,  refused  to  obey  him; 
Cyrus  covered  him  with  blows.  Complaint  was  made  to  the  king. 
Cyrus  was  obliged  to  appear  before  Astyages,  who  recognised 
him  through  the  resemblance  which  he  bore  to  himself.  The 
shepherd  finally  confessed  the  substitution.  Astyages  avenged 
himself  on  Harpagos  by  inviting  him  to  a  great  feast  at  which 


ii6  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

he  caused  him  to  eat  the  remains  of  his  own  son,  whom  he  had 
had  murdered.  The  wise  men  thereupon  reassured  Astyages  as 
to  his  fate;  for  the  prophecy  had  been  fulfilled  in  a  roundabout 
way,  the  village  children  having  named  Cyrus  king;  the  game 
sufficed  to  fulfil  it, 

Astyages  then  returned  Cyrus  to  his  true  parents,  Mandane 
and  Cambyses,  saying  to  him:  "In  them  you  will  find  a  very 
different  father  and  a  very  different  mother  from  the  shepherd 
Mithridates  and  his  wife."  Later  Cyrus  often  spoke  to  his  par- 
ents of  the  shepherd  and  his  wife,  who  was  called  Cyno  (in 
Greek,  the  bitch).  From  this  sprang  the  legend  according  to 
which  the  child  Cyrus  had  been  suclded  by  a  bitch. 

The  Legend  of  Lohengrin.  The  legend  of  Lohengrin  is  the 
legend  of  the  knight  of  the  swan,  a  heroic  poem  of  the  Middle 
Ages. 

The  Duke  of  Brabant  and  Limbourg  died  without  leaving  any 
heir  but  a  young  girl,  Els  or  Elsa.  On  his  death-bed  he  gave 
her  into  the  care  of  one  of  his  servitors,  Frederick  of  Telramund. 
Frederick,  a  valiant  hero,  was  very  brave  and  he  conquered  lands 
and  armies  for  the  young  countess,  convincing  every  one  that  she 
had  promised  to  marry  him. 

As  she  energetically  refused  this  union,  Frederick  complained 
to  the  Emperor  Henri  I'Oiseleur,  and  it  was  decided  that  the 
countess  should  choose  a  worthy  knight  who  would  fight  in  a 
tournament  against  Frederick  and  defend  her.  As  no  one  could 
be  found  who  desired  this  honour,  the  countess  prayed  to  God 
secretly  to  succour  her.  Then,  far  away,  at  Montsalvat,  near 
the  Grael,  the  bell  sounded;  it  was  the  sign  that  some  one  was 
in  need  of  prompt  assistance.  At  once  the  Grael  resolved  to 
send  out  Lohengrin,  the  son  of  Parsifal.  Just  as  the  latter  was 
about  to  climb  into  his  coach,  a  swan  came  swimming  over  the 
water,  drawing  a  boat  behind  him.  As  soon  as  he  saw  it,  Lohen- 
grin exclaimed:  "Take  the  horse  back  to  the  stable;  I  will  go 
with  this  bird  wherever  it  leads  me."  Trusting  in  God  he  took 
no  food  into  the  boat.  After  journeying  five  days  over  the  sea, 
the  swan  dipped  its  beak  into  the  water  and  drew  out  a  little 
fish,  of  which  it  ate  half  and  gave  the  other  half  to  the  prince. , 
Thus  the  knight  was  fed  by  the  swan.. 

Meanwhile,  Elsa  had  convoked  the  princes  and  vassals  at  an 


THE  BIRTH  OF  JESUS  117 

assembly  in  Antwerp.  On  the  day  of  the  meeting  a  swan  was 
seen  to  ascend  the  Scheldt;  it  drew  behind  it  a  little  boat  in 
which  Lohengrin  was  sleeping,  stretched  out  on  his  shield.  The 
swan  presently  approached  the  shore  and  the  prince  was  joy- 
ously received.  Hardly  had  he  taken  out  of  the  boat  the  casque, 
the  sword,  and  the  shield,  when  the  swan  at  mice  departed. 
Lohengrin  was  told  of  the  wrong  that  had  been  done  the  countess 
and  readily  consented  to  be  her  knight.  Elsa  invited  all  her 
relatives  and  her  subjects;  the  tribunal  was  established  at  Mainz, 
where  Lohengrin  and  Frederick  were  to  fight  in  the  presence  of 
the  emperor.  The  knight  of  the  Grael  vanquished  Frederick; 
the  latter  confessed  his  misdeeds  against  the  countess  and  was 
condemned  to  the  mallet  and  the  axe.  Elsa  became  the  bride 
of  Lohengrin;  they  had  long  loved  one  another.  Nevertheless, 
he  once  warned  her  at  home  to  avoid  carefully  any  question  about 
his  origin;  if  she  asked  any  such  question,  he  would  be  obliged 
to  abandon  her  immediately  and  she  would  never  see  him  again. 
For  a  while,  the  married  pair  lived  in  unmixed  happiness,  and 
Lohengrin  reigned  wisely  and  mightily  over  the  land.  He  also 
rendered  the  emperor  great  services  against  the  Huns  and  the 
heathen.  But  it  chanced  that  one  day,  in  a  tournament,  his 
lance  overthrew  the  Duke  of  Cleves,  who  broke  an  arm.  Then 
the  Duchess  of  Cleves  spoke  thus  to  the  women:  "Lohengrin 
may  be  a  valiant  hero,  and  he  seems  to  be  of  the  Christian 
faith,  but  it  is  a  pity  that  his  nobility  is  not  half  as  great  as 
his  renown;  at  least  nobody  knows  from  what  country  he  came." 
These  words  went  to  the  heart  of  the  Countess  of  Brabant  and 
she  blushed.  That  night,  in  bed,  as  her  husband  held  her  in 
his  arms,  she  wept  and  said  to  him:  'The  Duchess  of  Cleves  has 
made  me  very  unhappy."  Lohengrin  was  silent  and  asked  no 
questions.  The  second  night  the  same  thing  happened.  But  on 
the  third  night,  Elsa,  no  longer  able  to  contain  herself,  said: 
"My  lord,  do  not  be  angry!  /  should  so  much  like  to  know,  for 
our  children's  sake,  where  you  were  born,  for  my  heart  tells  me 
that  you  are  of  high  lineage."  When  day  came,  Lohengrin  ex- 
plained frankly  whence  he  had  come,  that  Parsifal  was  his 
father,  and  that  God  had  sent  him  from  the  Grael.  Then  he  had 
them  bring  in  the  two  children  whom  the  countess  had  given 
him,  and  he  embraced  them,  bidding  them  take  good  care  of 
the  horn  and  the  sword  which  he  was  leaving  with  them,  and 


ii8  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

said:  "Now,  farewell!"  With  the  countess  he  left  the  ring 
{Fingerlein)  which  his  mother  had  once  given  him.  Then  his 
friend  the  swan  came  swiftly,  with  the  little  boat  behind  him, 
and  the  prince  leaped  in  and  departed  across  the  waters  to 
rejoin  the  service  of  the  Grael.  Elsa  fainted.  The  empress  sent 
for  the  younger  son  of  Lohengrin  on  his  father's  account  and 
brought  him  up  as  her  son.  But  the  widow  wept  and  lamented 
all  the  rest  of  her  life  for  the  beloved  husband  who  never  re- 
turned/^ 

It  will  be  instantly  observed  that  we  find  in  these  legends, 
which  are  so  different  in  their  origins,  the  broad  features 
that  we  have  mentioned  above: 

1.  The  illustrious  parents:  Sargon,  son  of  an  unknown 
father  and  a  vestal  virgin;  Perseus,  grandson  of  a  king  and 
son  of  a  god;  Cyrus,  grandson  of  a  king;  Lohengrin,  of 
unknown  birth,  but  concealing  a  divine  mystery. 

2.  The  evil  prophecy:  see  the  story  of  Perseus  and  that 
of  Cyrus. 

3.  The  exposed  child:  Sargon  is  exposed  on  the  Eu- 
phrates. For  Cyrus  a  dead  child  is  substituted  and  exposed 
on  the  mountain. 

4.  The  poor  parents  or  the  animals  who  rescue  and 
foster  the  heroes:  Cyrus  is  adopted  by  the  shepherds  and, 
through  a  play  on  words,  suckled  by  a  bitch;  Lohengrin 
is  fed  by  a  swan. 

There  are  other  details  on  which  we  might  dwell,  details 
which,  according  to  the  psycho-analysts,  have  a  symbolical 
value.  Thus,  the  chest  or  the  basket,  smeared  with  pitch 
and  exposed  on  the  waters,  represents  the  mother's  breast. 
The  father  (or  the  grandfather)  who  pursues  the  child 
and  tries  to  prevent  its  birth  is  the  father  who  hates  the 
child.    We  have  here  what  is  called  in  psycho-analysis  the 

15  These  legends  are  taken  from  Rank's  Der  Mythus  der  Gehurt  des 
Helden.  The  author  also  cites  those  of  Kama,  CEdipus,  Judas,  St. 
Gregory,  Paris,  Telephos,  Gilgamos,  Romulus,  Hercules,  Zoroaster,  and 
Siegfried,  all  of  which  present  the  same  or  analogous  features. 


THE  BIRTH  OF  JESUS  119 

phenomenon  of  Transference  (Uebertragung)  and  Projec- 
tion. The  hatred  of  the  child  for  the  father  is  transferred 
by  the  child  to  the  father,  so  that,  in  his  thought,  it  is 
the  father  who  hates  him.  These  transferences  are  very- 
common  in  ordinary  life.  How  often  do  we  not  attribute 
to  others  the  evil  feelings  which  we  have  for  them,  so  as 
to  excuse  ourselves  in  a  measure  for  feeling  them  or  cher- 
ishing them! 

Thus  the  psycho-analytic  theory  which  sees  in  the  myths 
and  the  legends  the  symbolical  expression  of  the  family- 
complex  is  not  without  foundation.  Is  it  sufficient?  This 
we  certainly  have  a  right  to  ask.  The  leaders  of  the  psycho- 
analytic school  of  Zurich,  while  they  accept  whatever  ap- 
pears to  be  true  in  the  determination  of  the  psychic  causes 
which  have  given  rise  to  myths,  dreams,  fairy-tales,  to  the 
symbols  of  art,  religion,  poetry,  etc.,  while  they  recognise 
that  there  is  evidently  in  these  manifestations  a  product 
of  the  infantile  urge  of  the  primary  instincts  in  the  human 
soul,  have  carried  the  question  higher,  and  we  must  be 
grateful  to  them  for  having  done  so.  This  is  what  they 
have  found: 

In  dreams — and  the  same  thing  is  true  of  myths,  fairy- 
tales, and  legends — we  can  look  for  something  else  besides 
the  causes.  In  studying  them  we  may  also  turn  our  eyes 
towards  the  future.  The  dreams  of  a  sick  person,  for 
instance,  do  not  merely  reveal  to  us  the  causes  that  have 
given  rise  to  his  neurosis;  there  also  exists,  in  the  images 
which  they  call  up,  in  the  symbols  which  they  bring  to 
light,  a  revelation  of  new  possible  paths  of  rescue  that  open 
before  the  invalid.  Hence  the  necessity  of  examining  them 
also  from  a  teleological  point  of  view,  the  point  of  view, 
that  is,  of  the  goals  which  they  offer  to  the  individual,  the 
means  which  they  suggest  of  resolving  the  inner  conflict 
from  which  his  soul  is  suffering. 


120  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

An  example  will  enable  us  to  understand  better  than  any 
other  explanation  this  extension  of  the  psycho-analytic 
method  which  we  owe  to  the  school  of  Zurich.  I  borrow 
it  from  the  Rev.  Pastor  Keller,  who  cited  it  in  the  course 
of  a  work  presented  to  the  Societe  Vaudoise  de  Theologie 
at  Lausanne,  8  October,  191 7,  under  the  title,  La  psychana- 
lyse,  ses  rapports  avec  la  psychologic  religieuse  et  la  cure 
d'dme}^  M.  Keller  referred  to  the  dream  of  a  patient  under 
treatment,  a  young  man,  and  pointed  out  the  two  inter- 
pretations, the  two  meanings,  that  could  be  given  to  the 
symbolic  images  of  this  dream.  Here  is  the  dream:  it  con- 
sists of  two  moments,  two  acts,  or  two  scenes.  First  mo- 
ment: The  young  man  dreams  that  he  is  in  a  coach  with 
several  persons.  On  the  opposite  seat,  facing  him,  there 
is  a  lame  man.  He  is  filled  with  a  desire  to  throw  himself 
upon  this  lame  man  and  fling  him  out  of  the  coach.  Second 
moment:  The  coach  forms  part  of  a  funeral  procession. 
The  father  of  the  young  man  is  being  buried. 

On  questioning  this  young  man  regarding  the  ideas  that 
associate  themselves  with  the  images  of  his  dream  and 
come  to  his  mind  when  these  images  are  called  up,  we 
obtain  roughly  the  following: 

"How  many  persons  were  with  you  in  the  carriage?" — 
"Five." — "What  does  the  number  five  make  you  think  of?" 
— "There  are  five  in  our  family." 

The  coach  in  which  the  young  man  was  riding  is  thus  the 
image  of  the  family  life. 

"Now  what  do  the  words  'lame  man'  suggest  to  you?" 
— Hesitation. — "Nothing!  .  .  .  Oh,  yes,  that's  so!  My 
brother  once  hurt  his  foot;  he  used  to  limp." — "What  sort 
of  relations  have  you  with  your  brother?" — "Not  bad." — 

^^This  example,  summarized  from  memory,  is  incomplete  in  its  de- 
tails.   I  trust  I  have  not  been  false  to  the  essential  facts. 


THE  BIRTH  OF  JESUS  121 

"Never  any  friction?" — ''Oh,  yes,  very  often;  the  family  like 
him  better  than  me." 

Conclusion:  the  desire  to  fling  the  lame  man  out  of  the 
coach  is  really  the  desire  to  free  himself  from  the  trouble- 
some presence  of  a  brother  in  the  family,  a  desire  repressed 
by  the  censor  and  necessitating  the  disguising  of  his  brother's 
person  before  it  can  manifest  itself  externally;  the  brother 
thus  becomes  an  unknown  lame  man. 

The  funeral:  on  questioning  the  subject  on  this  third  part 
of  the  dream  we  discover  that  in  his  everyday  life  the  young 
man  fears  his  father;  he  is  in  terror  of  him;  the  father 
represents  an  obstacle  to  him.  The  dream  therefore  grat- 
ifies the  hatred  of  the  father  by  causing  him  to  die,  but 
honours  him  at  the  same  time  by  giving  him  a  fine  funeral.^^ 

Such  is  the  explanation  of  the  dream,  according  to  the 
causal  method.  The  dream  springs  from  the  family-com- 
plex which  haunts  the  troubled  soul  of  the  young  man.  The 
images  he  calls  up  are  the  result  of  the  psychic  conflict  that 
is  in  progress  in  this  patient. 

But  there  is  another  method  of  approaching  these  same 
symbols,  approaching  them  from  a  different  angle.  If  we 
were  to  consider  the  inner  conflict  of  the  patient  as  a 
moral  conflict  which  must  be  solved  by  sacrifice,  we  should 
say  to  him:  "From  what  we  have  discovered  in  your  dream, 
your  brother  must  be  excluded  from  your  life  and  your 
father  must  die.  What  does  this  mean?  It  does  not  mean 
that  they  must  die  actually.  It  means  that  the  image  you 
have  made  of  your  father,  of  your  brother  must  die  in  you. 
Thus  it  is  a  part  of  yourself  that  must  die:  these  disparaging 
representations  which  you  have  formed  of  your  relatives. 
You  must  consent  to  this  sacrifice,  whatever  it  may  cost 
you;  you  will  then  be  freed  from  the  weight  that  prevents 
you  from  developing  normally,  freed  from  this  obstacle  that 

1''  Ambivalence  of  the  feelings  with  respect  to  the  father. 


122  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

obstructs  your  life."  Such  is  the  interpretation  of  the 
school  of  Zurich.  Instead  of  stopping  with  the  past,  with 
the  search  for  causes,  it  turns  its  eyes  towards  the  future; 
it  interprets  the  symbols  of  the  dream  in  terms  of  the  goal 
to  be  attained  and  the  tasks  to  be  accomplished,  in  terms 
of  the  duty  that  lies  ahead  of  us. 

This  is  of  great  importance,  and  it  may  be  summed  up 
in  the  following  way:  the  symbols  which  the  dream  em- 
ploys and  to  which  it  gives  rise  should  not  be  considered 
merely  as  residua  of  the  infantile  family -complex;  they  also 
furnish  indications  for  the  inner  transformations  that  life 
demands  of  the  individual  if  he  wishes  to  triumph  over  the 
obstacles  that  have  accumulated  in  his  path.  They  guide 
the  dreamer  and  point  out  to  him  the  road  for  him  to 
follow  and  the  modifications  that  must  be  made  in  his 
personal  life. 

There  are  thus  two  methods  of  interpreting  the  sym- 
bols, the  images  which  dreams  offer  us:  the  one,  realistic 
and  causal,  which  seeks  in  the  past  alone  for  the  source 
of  the  dream;  the  other,  teleological  and  anagogical,  which, 
without  ignoring  what  concerns  the  past,  discovers  in  the 
symbols  of  the  dream  a  moral  bearing  as  well,  and  interprets 
these  symbols  as  indications  of  the  way  in  which  the  inner 
conflict  may  find  its  solution.^^ 

The  myth,  we  have  said,  is  regarded  by  the  psycho- 
analysts as  the  dream  of  peoples.  If  this  is  the  case,  why 
should  we  not  try  to  apply  the  second  of  these  interpreta- 
tions to  it  as  well  as  the  first?  According  to  the  first,  the 
figures  and  the  personages  of  the  great  myths  and  legends 
symbolise  the  figures  and  the  personages  of  the  family-com- 
plex that  exists  in  the  soul  of  every  child.  Humanity  in- 
carnates in  its  favourite  heroes  the  dreams  and  the  hopes 

1^  Cf.  SiLBERER,  Ueber  die  Symholhildung.  Jahrbuch  f.  psych. 
Forsch.,  III.  pp.  661-723. — Maeder,  Ueber  das  Traumproblem.  Ibid.  V, 
pp.  647-686; — and  pp.  157  et  seqq.  of  the  present  volume. 


THE  BIRTH  OF  JESUS  123 

that  it  begins  to  live  anew  with  every  child  that  is  born. 
In  these  beautiful  stories,  which  cluster  about  the  memory 
of  some  illustrious  personality,  we  should  then  have  only 
the  reflection  of  a  past  that  is  altogether  dead  in  every  one 
of  us.  Such  is  the  rather  sad  and  depressing  idea  that  is 
often  held  regarding  the  legends  and  the  myths;  it  leaves 
them  nothing  but  a  romantic  value,  without  any  psycho- 
logical bearing,  fit  at  best  to  distract  for  a  few  moments 
minds  that  are  imaginative  and  inclined  to  poetry. 

If,  however,  we  apply  to  them  the  second  method  of 
interpretation,  of  which  we  have  spoken,  the  myths  and 
legends  begin  to  live.  They  assume  an  entirely  different, 
a  psychological,  import.  They  become  not  merely  the  em- 
bellished and  poeticised  memories  of  a  childhood  that  has 
wholly  passed.  In  and  through  their  symbols,  the  future 
task  of  humanity  is  discernible.  At  the  moment  when  they 
appeared  in  humanity  they  were,  so  to  speak,  witnesses 
and  heralds  of  the  moral  exigencies  which  imposed  them- 
selves upon  this  or  that  human  group.  They  reveal  to 
humanity,  under  a  symbolic  form,  what  life  expects  of  it. 
Like  the  dream  in  the  case  of  the  individual,  they  contain 
indications  of  the  end  to  be  pursued  and  the  paths  to  be 
followed,  the  end  and  the  paths  of  which  humanity  is  not 
yet  fully  conscious,  but  which  its  subconscious  already  out- 
lines under  forms  that  are  veiled  from  and  often  misleading 
to  those  who  do  not  know  how  to  analyse  them. 

§  5.  APPLICATION  OF  THE  TWO  METHODS  OF  PSYCHO-ANA- 
LYTIC INTERPRETATION  TO  THE  ACCOUNTS  OF  THE  BIRTH 
OF  CHRIST. 

Let  us  now  attempt  to  apply  these  two  methods  of  psycho- 
analytic interpretation  to  the  accounts,  legendary  in  form, 
which  the  evangelists  have  left  us  of  the  birth  of  Christ. 


124  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

The  first  will  give  us  the  results  which  have  already 
been  noted  in  several  Lives  of  Jesus  and  which  have 
scandalised  more  than  one  soul  by  their  dryness  and  aridity. 
By  the  aid  of  this  method,  we  shall  find  in  the  gospel  ac- 
counts many  of  the  features  of  the  family-complex  which 
Rank  discovers  in  myths  in  general. 

1.  The  opposition  between  the  illustrious  parents  and  the 
poor  parents.  On  one  side,  the  humble  state  of  the  car- 
penter's household  in  which  Jesus  was  brought  up,  the  stable 
where  he  was  born,  surrounded  by  simple  folk,  and  the  ani- 
mals, the  ox  and  the  ass,  which  a  later  legend  grouped  about 
the  manger.  On  the  other,  the  miraculous  and  divine  birth 
in  which  the  Holy  Ghost  plays  the  role  of  father  and  be- 
comes the  secret  and  mysterious  generator. 

2.  The  prediction  of  a  misfortune  which  renders  the 
birth  difficult.  We  recall  the  prophecy  made  to  Mary  by 
Simeon:  "Yea,  a  sword  shall  pierce  through  thy  own  soul 
also,"  ^"  and  "Behold,  this  child  is  set  for  the  fall  and  rising 
again  of  many  in  Israel;  and  for  a  sign  which  shall  be 
spoken  against."  ^" 

3.  The  motif  of  the  exposure  of  the  child  is  replaced 
here  by  the  massacre  of  the  innocents,  ordered  by  Herod, 
and  by  the  flight  into  Egypt.  The  life  of  the  child  is  men- 
aced. He  escapes  by  the  aid  of  the  supposed  parents  who 
save  him  from  the  king's  wrath."^ 

Finally,  the  wise  men,  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  shepherds, 
on  the  other,  serve  to  double  this  contrast  between  the  illus- 
trious parents  and  the  poor  parents  which  we  find  in  myths 
in  general.  On  one  side,  the  child  is  hailed  at  his  birth 
by  great  personages  whom  Herod  receives,  and  who  later, 
in  the  subsequent  legend,  even  become  kings;  thus  he  is 
the  son  of  a  king,  the  son  of  God.    On  the  other  side,  he 

19  Luke  ii,  35. 

20/&irf.,   34. 

21  Compare  with  the  legend  of  Cyrus. 


THE  BIRTH  OF  JESUS  125 

receives  the  homage  of  the  shepherds;  it  is  the  common 
people  who  surround  the  manger. 

Following  this  method  of  interpretation,  the  legend  of 
the  birth  of  Christ  thus  becomes,  like  the  others,  a  product 
of  the  family-complex.  It  is  born  spontaneously,  naturally, 
from  the  popular  soul  in  the  presence  of  a  heroic  and  ad- 
mirable life  such  as  that  of  Jesus  was;  and  most  of  the 
details,  if  not  all  of  them,  are  provided  by  the  great  sub- 
conscious conflict  which  is  found  in  the  psychism  of  all 
children.  There  is  a  good  deal  of  truth  perhaps  in  this  ex- 
planation, but  it  does  not  exhaust  the  subject. 

We  must  nov/  turn  to  the  second  method  of  interpreta- 
tion, that  which  seeks  in  the  features  of  the  legend  for 
teleological  indications,  the  prefigurement  of  a  future  and 
what  we  may  call  the  inward  prophecy  of  coming  tasks.  If 
the  legend  of  the  birth  of  Christ  is  born  of  the  national 
and  popular  consciousness  of  primitive  Christianity  as  a 
dream  is  born  in  the  soul  of  a  sleeper,  we  are  right  in  seek- 
ing beneath  the  symbolical  figures  which  it  brings  to  light 
not  only  an  indication  of  the  conflict  which  agitates  the 
Christian  soul  but  also  a  direction  for  the  solution  of  this 
conflict. 

Now  let  us  imagine  the  problem  that  such  a  life  as  that 
of  Christ  would  present  to  a  sincere  soul:  the  life  of  a  man 
with  all  the  limitations  and  the  physical  weaknesses  that 
a  human  life  implies,  ending  in  the  most  tragic  and  igno- 
minious of  possible  deaths,  which  is  at  the  same  time  a 
spiritually  triumphant  life  without  any  of  the  blemishes 
that  generally  go  with  human  nature,  a  life  that  makes  the 
sovereign  glory  of  God  shine  out  before  all  eyes,  a  life 
that  was  from  one  end  to  the  other  a  testimony,  a  fervour 
of  the  moral  and  religious  consciousness,  a  certitude  of  God 
the  Father  translated  into  action.  How  reconcile  these 
contraries?    How  bring  into  accord  these  oppositions,  this 


126  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

life  and  this  death,  this  triumph  and  this  humiliation,  this 
spiritual  royalty  and  this  condemnation  by  the  so-called 
spiritual  authorities?  Truly,  it  is  easy  to  imagine  the  con- 
flict that  must  have  agitated  simple  souls  faced  with  these 
facts  in  which  they  were  participating  without  being  able 
to  explain  them. 

We  must  also  bear  in  mind  the  fact  that  the  souls  of 
the  common  people  do  not  live  by  historical  truth  any 
more,  for  that  matter,  than  do  the  souls  of  the  cultivated, 
whatever  may  be  said  to  the  contrary.  People  always  live 
by  psychological  truth,  by  the  inner  truth,  first  and  fore- 
most. Legends  are  not  born  as  stories  are  born,  invented 
with  the  full  consciousness  of  the  inventor.  They  are  born 
as  dreams  are  born,  of  an  inner  urge  through  which  rise 
up  pell-mell  all  the  subconscious  elements  that  stir  in  the 
depths  of  our  being.  Thus  they  are  not  falsehoods,  or  the 
work  of  falsehood,  but  truths  deeper  than  historical  truth 
and  simply  of  another  order;  they  have  the  multiform  sin- 
cerity that  our  dreams  have;  they  contain  the  symbols  of 
the  desires,  the  conflicts  that  agitate  the  soul  of  the  period 
as  well  as  indications,  for  him  who  can  interpret  them,  of 
the  way  in  which  this  soul  may  surmount  the  conflict. 

"This  man  is  not  like  any  one  else,"  the  dream  says  to 
the  soul.  "His  parents  are  not  his  real  parents.  He  was 
not  born  of  man  but  of  God;  and  yet  he  is  the  son  of  a 
woman.  He  was  laid  in  a  manger,  surrounded  by  shep- 
herds; he  is  a  son  of  the  people,  a  brother  to  each  one  of 
us.  But  wise  men  from  afar  came  to  adore  him;  he  is 
more  than  a  king." 

In  the  course  of  the  dream  there  appear,  little  by  little, 
the  exigencies  of  the  faith,  the  attitude  that  men  must  take 
in  relation  to  Christ  in  order  to  be  able  to  respond  to  the 
vocation  which  his  life  inspires.  He  must  be  regarded  as 
a  man,  purely  as  a  man,  a  neighbour,  a  brother;  and  yet 


THE  BIRTH  OF  JESUS  127 

he  is  more  than  this,  he  contains  in  himself  a  mystery. 
To  approach  him  is  to  feel  that  there  is  something  more 
in  him.  This  is  the  psychological  truth  which  the  legend 
reveals  under  these  symbols  in  historical  form. 

And  it  is  thus  that  we  must  interpret  it,  as  the  symbolic 
indication  of  the  spiritual  attitude  which  believers  would 
have  assumed  before  the  great  figure  that  approaches. 
Here  we  have  the  teleological  meaning  of  this  prologue,  as 
it  might  be  called,  to  the  gospels.  As  long  as  we  seek  to 
interpret  it  from  the  purely  historical  point  of  view,  we 
stumble  upon  contradictions  or  reach  negative  conclusions 
that  are  painful  to  many  souls.  The  psycho-analytic 
method,  applied  to  these  accounts  which  it  frankly  regards 
as  legendary,  gives  us,  it  appears,  the  only  logical  and  sat- 
isfying issue.  The  question  here  is  not  one  of  historical 
truth,  the  verification  of  which  would  always  be  impossible, 
but  of  psychological  truth.^" 

Like  the  dream,  the  legend  is  not  made  up  for  amuse- 
ment. It  is  born  of  a  psychological  conflict  in  the  depths 
of  a  people's  soul;  it  forms  its  symbols  out  of  the  subcon- 
scious tendencies  at  work  in  the  human  psyche;  lastly,  it 
tends  to  indicate  the  possible  issue  out  of  this  conflict  by 
dictating  to  man  the  moral  attitude  which  he  ought  to  as- 
sume.   When  we  consider  the  personality  of  Jesus,  v/e  see 

22  In  his  preface  to  the  translation  of  Strauss's  Life  of  Jesus,  Littre 
wrote  as  long  ago  as  .853 :  "It  is  not  permissible  to  alter  the  theological 
accounts,  or  to  introduce  allegories  into  them,  or  to  transform  them 
into  natural  facts.  It  is  not  permissible  to  deny  them  by  regarding 
them  as  impostures ;  nor  is  it  any  more  permissible  to  accept  them  as 
realities.  The  reality  lies  elsewhere :  it  is  of  a  mental  or  psychological 
order,  and  in  this  sense  they  bear  witness  not  to  facts  which  actually 
took  place  but  to  intellectual  and  moral  movements  which  have  modi- 
fied society  more  deeply  than  the  gravest  material  happenings  could 
ever  do.     This  is  the  heart  of  the  question"  (p.  XI). 

Littre  makes  a  mistake  when  he  puts  all  the  "theological  accounts" 
in  the  same  category,  and  especially  when  he  neglects  to  say  what  he 
means  by  this  phrase.  He  speaks  of  "moral  and  intellectual  move- 
ments" where  he  should  have  spoken  of  the  subconscious  life  of  the 
soul.     But  his   central   intuition   is  correct;   he   realises  that  the   deep 


128  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

that  the  legend  of  his  origin  possesses  this  character.  It 
offers  to  the  Christian  people  the  solution  of  the  psycho- 
logical conflict  that  was  born  in  it  through  the  contempla- 
tion of  the  person  of  Christ.  It  says  to  this  people:  "Here 
is  a  man  who  is  more  than  a  man;  it  is  by  seeking  in  the 
man  for  the  son  of  God  that  you  will  feel  within  yourself 
the  unloosening  of  the  bonds  and  the  melting  of  the  ob- 
stacles that  hinder  your  own  life." 

It  might,  perhaps,  be  possible  to  push  still  further  than 
the  psycho-analysts  have  done  this  analysis  of  the  legend. 
It  might  be  shown  that  in  the  persons  of  the  great  heroes 
humanity  has  found  a  symbol  of  its  own  highest  life. 

Just  as,  during  his  childhood,  the  hero  struggles  between 
the  two  pairs  of  parents,  the  poor  and  humble  parents,  and 
the  royal  or  divine  parents,  so  humanity,  in  every  child, 
recognises  not  only  its  earthly,  animal  descent,  its  natural 
human  descent,  as  it  were,  but  also  another  origin  that  is 
mysterious  and  quasi-divine;  it  is  always  struggling  be- 
tween these  two  descents  which  torment  it  and  dominate 
its  whole  development. 

Again,  just  as  the  hero  ends  by  overcoming  the  obstacles 
of  fate,  and  by  finding  his  real  father  again,  sometimes 

reality  of  some  of  these  accounts  was  of  the  "mental  and  psychological" 
and  not  of  the  historical  order. 

A  little  further  on,  apropos  of  legends,  he  adds  this :  "Since  they  are 
the  products  of  the  same  faculty,  legends  in  the  field  of  political  his- 
tory can  be  compared  with  those  that  grow  in  the  field  of  theology. 
The  former  are  always  inferior  to  the  reality  which  they  mask,  and 
we  only  pardon  them  when  they  give  rise  to  some  such  magnificent 
epic  as  the  songs  of  Homer.  The  second  have  a  higher  value  than 
reality,  or  rather  they  are  reality,  par  excellence,  since  these  legends 
carry  on  their  face  the  stamp  of  powerful  forces  and  the  causes  of 
transformation.  Always  and  everywhere  the  imagination  has  a  neces- 
sary part  to  play,  and  we  should  mistake  the  very  constitution  of  the 
human  spirit,  of  which  it  is  an  essential  element,  if  we  supposed  that 
it  was  ever  absent"   (p.  XIX). 

It  is  interesting  to  observe  that  in  France,  well  before  there  was  any 
thought  of  psycho-analysis,  ideas  similar  to  those  we  have  described 
were  already  at  work  in  people's  minds  and  leading  them  to  conclusions 
that  were  analogous,  although  vaguer  and  less  well  founded. 


THE  BIRTH  OF  JESUS  129 

through  suffering,  sometimes  while  in  the  act  of  killing  him 
involuntarily,  of  sinning  against  him,  so  humanity  can  only 
attain  to  the  true  life  by  finding  again  its  true  father,  the 
divine  Father;  and  humanity  too,  in  finding  him,  some- 
times discovers  that  it  has  committed  against  him  the  most 
heinous  of  crimes. 

The  legend  of  the  hero  is  thus  the  symbol  of  a  sublima- 
tion that  is  necessary  to  humanity  in  order  the  better  to 
find  life  and  accomplish  its  destiny,  the  symbol  of  a  return 
to  the  true  Father,  of  a  preservation  of  its  true  origins  in 
the  face  of  everything  that  seems  to  deny  them.  Con- 
fronted as  we  are  with  the  accounts  that  precede  the  story 
of  Jesus,  it  is  almost  unnecessary  to  point  out  how  eloquent 
these  symbols  become.  It  is  requisite  that  this  child  should 
find  again  the  true  Father,  of  the  race  from  which  we  all 
spring.  The  elder  brother,  he  precedes  all  his  kindred  along 
the  path  of  return  to  the  true  Father,  beyond  all  the  sec- 
ondary paternities  that  human  relations  represent.  With 
him  and  through  him  humanity  may  take  the  same  road,  on 
condition  that  it  holds  fast,  in  the  hero,  to  that  mystery 
which,  in  him,  is  more  than  human.  Hence  the  legend; 
it  expresses  a  reality  which  transcends  that  of  history,  it 
seizes  upon  a  psychic  process  and  offers  it,  under  a  symbolic 
form,  to  the  good  will  of  those  who  admire  the  hero.  Those 
Christians  who,  like  Saint  Paul,  attain  to  a  communion  with 
Christ  which  can  be  expressed  in  the  words,  "For  me,  to 
live  is  Christ,"  realise  that  the  highest  life  is  achieved 
through  an  identification  of  men  with  the  hero,  an  identi- 
fication which  also  causes  them  to  pass  from  the  relations 
of  human  kinship  to  the  supreme  paternal  relation.  With 
Christ  they  find  again  the  true  Father  and  recognise  him 
as  such,  in  spite  of  the  relationships  of  the  flesh  which, 
superposing  themselves  upon  it,  often  obliterate  its  image 
by  veiling  its  purity. 


CHAPTER  II 
CHILDHOOD  AND  YOUTH 

§  I.     INFLUENCES 

We  have,  unfortunately,  no  details  regarding  the  child- 
hood of  Jesus  save  the  episode  of  the  Temple,  Luke  ii,  41- 
52.  What  were  the  circumstances  that  attended  the  un- 
folding of  his  soul?  What  were  the  influences  exercised 
by  his  environment,  the  family,  the  local  atmosphere? 
These  are  among  the  many  questions  to  which  no  gospel 
text  gives  us  any  answer  and  which  can  be  solved  only 
by  conjecture,  with  some  plausibility,  however,  if  we  take 
into  account  what  happened  later  together  with  the  knowl- 
edge we  possess  regarding  Jewish  education. 

The  childhood  of  Jesus  was  undoubtedly  passed  at  Naz- 
areth, "that  little  town,"  as  Renan  so  well  describes  it, 
"situated  in  a  depression  of  open  rolling  country  at  the 
summit  of  the  group  of  mountains  that  inclose,  on  the  north, 
the  plain  of  Esdraelon.  To-day  it  has  a  population  of  three 
or  four  thousand  souls,  and  it  cannot  have  varied  greatly. 
The  cold  is  sharp  in  winter,  and  the  climate  is  very  health- 
ful. Nazareth,  like  all  Jewish  towns  of  this  period,  con- 
sisted of  a  dense  mass  of  houses,  built  without  regard  to 
style,  and  must  have  presented  the  same  poor  and  barren 
appearance  as  the  Semitic  villages  of  to-day.  In  all  proba- 
bility, the  houses  did  not  differ  very  much  from  those  cubes 
of  stone,  without  external  or  internal  elegance,  which  to-day 
cover  the  most  fertile  parts  of  Lebanon,  and  which,  scat- 
tered among  the  vineyards  and  fig-trees,  are  nevertheless 
very  attractive  indeed.     The  surroundings,  moreover,  are 


CHILDHOOD  AND  YOUTH  131 

charming.  .  .  .  Even  to-day,  Nazareth  is  a  delightful  place 
to  visit,  the  only  place  in  Palestine  perhaps  where  the  soul 
feels  a  little  relief  from  the  burden  that  oppresses  it  amid 
this  unequalled  desolation.  The  population  is  good-hu- 
moured and  smiling;  the  gardens  are  fresh  and  green.  An- 
toninus Martyr,  at  the  end  of  the  sixth  century,  drew  an 
enchanting  picture  of  the  fertility  of  the  surrounding  coun- 
try, which  he  compared  to  paradise.^ 

"We  can  see  the  streets  in  which  the  child  played  in  these 
stony  paths  and  these  little  cross-roads  that  separate  the 
houses.  No  doubt  the  dwelling  of  Joseph  closely  resembled 
these  poor  huts,  lighted  by  the  door,  serving  at  once  as 
stable,  kitchen,  and  bedroom,  and  having  as  their  furniture 
a  box,  a  few  cushions  on  the  ground,  one  or  two  clay  jars, 
and  a  painted  chest."  ^ 

It  seems  as  if  we  could  imagine  fairly  well  what  must 
have  been  the  life  of  a  child  growing  up  in  this  village 
environment,  in  the  midst  of  a  numerous  family;  for  the 
gospels  tell  us  that  Jesus  had  brothers  and  sisters.  The 
more  or  less  fabulous  accounts  in  the  apochryphal  gospels 
of  the  games  which  he  played  with  his  companions  rest  upon 
no  solid  basis.  It  is  quite  useless,  in  any  case,  to  imagine 
him  as  different  from  the  others.  He  "increased  in  wisdom 
and  stature,  and  in  favour  with  God  and  man";  ^  this 
laconic  summary  of  his  development  seems  to  correspond 
best  with  the  reality. 

What  instruction  did  he  receive?  "Among  the  ancient 
Hebrews,"  Stapfer  tells  us,  "the  education  of  the  child 
took  place  in  the  family.  We  can  find  no  trace  of  public 
schools  anywhere  before  the  return  from  the  exile.  After 
the  Restoration,  the  scribes  founded  schools,  but  they  were 


*  Renan,  Vie  de  Jesus,  pp.  27  et  seqq. 

*  Ibid.  p.  24. 

8  Luke  iii,  52. 


132  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

not  intended  for  children,  ...  It  was  not  until  the  year 
64  A.D.  that  public  schools  were  established  generally.* 
Nevertheless,  it  seems  probable  that  in  the  time  of  Jesus 
there  was  a  school  at  Nazareth,  directed  no  doubt  not  by 
a  master  ad  hoc,  but  simply  by  the  Hazzan  or  factotum 
of  the  synagogue. 

Jesus  learned  to  read  and  write,  probably  after  the  simple 
methods  of  the  Orient.  The  mother  taught  her  child  a  verse 
of  the  law  as  soon  as  he  was  able  to  speak.  When  he 
knew  this  by  heart,  she  taught  him  another.  A  little  later 
they  placed  in  his  hands  the  written  text  of  the  verses 
he  had  learned;  and  by  dint  of  repeating  it  in  cadence  with 
his  little  comrades,  he  ended  by  knowing  how  to  read. 

The  school  added  a  little,  very  little,  to  this  rudimentary 
equipment.  On  the  Sabbath  day,  the  mothers  also  took 
their  children  to  the  Hazzan  for  a  sort  of  Sunday  school, 
which  completed  this  elementary  instruction.  There  is  no 
reason  to  suppose  that  Jesus  ever  attended  the  schools  of 
the  scribes  which  gave  one  the  right  to  the  title  of  rabbi; 
perhaps  nothing  of  the  kind  existed  at  Nazareth.  But  he 
knew  enough  to  be  able  to  read  the  books  of  the  Law. 
He  knew  the  Psalms,  Isaiah,  Daniel,  and  perhaps  the  book 
of  Enoch. 

But  the  great  book  which  Jesus  read  and  reread  was 
that  of  humanity  and  nature.  In  that  admirable  little  work 
Hilligenlei,  Gustav  Frenssen  pictures  him  for  us  watching 
everything  that  went  on  about  him,  seeing  the  parable  of 
the  prodigal  son  enacted  in  his  own  village,  observing  the 
children  at  their  games.  His  sayings  are  full  of  reminis- 
cences. The  woman  who  shows  her  neighbours  the  piece 
of  silver  she  has  found  again,  the  shepherd  carrying  his 
lamb  on  his  shoulders,  the  father  giving  bread  and  not 

4  Staffer,  Edm.,  La  Palestine  au  temps  de  Jesus-Christ.  Paris, 
Fischbacher,  1892,  p.  141. 


CHILDHOOD  AND  YOUTH  133 

stones  to  his  children,  all  these  things  are  scenes  that  have 
taken  place,  that  are  drawn  from  life,  observed  undoubtedly 
with  the  eyes  that  do  not  forget,  the  eyes  of  childhood, 
observed  with  that  clear  vision  which  stamps  things  in 
bright  colours  on  the  soul. 

He  watched  men;  he  lingered  to  watch  them.  And  he 
saw  nature  also,  with  what  a  quick  and  fresh  eye!  And 
nature  in  Galilee  was  charming.  Here  again  we  must  quote 
Renan:  "The  region  round  about  Jerusalem,"  he  says,  "is 
perhaps  the  most  melancholy  country  in  the  world.  Galilee, 
on  the  contrary,  was  a  very  green,  shady,  smiling  country, 
the  true  land  of  the  Song  of  Songs  and  the  songs  of  the 
well-beloved.  During  the  two  months  of  March  and  April, 
the  fields  are  a  carpet  of  flowers,  incomparably  fresh  in 
their  colour.  The  animals  here  are  small  but  extremely 
gentle.  Slim,  quick  turtle-doves,  bluebirds  so  light  that 
they  perch  on  a  grass-stem  without  bending  it,  crested  larks 
that  all  but  alight  beneath  the  feet  of  the  traveller,  little 
brook  turtles,  with  bright,  soft  eyes,  storks  with  grave  and 
modest  air,  free  from  any  timidity,  allow  themselves  to  be 
closely  approached  by  man  and  seem  to  call  him.  In  no 
country  in  the  world  do  the  mountains  unroll  more  har- 
moniously or  inspire  loftier  feelings.  Jesus  seems  to  have 
particularly  loved  them."  ^ 

The  poetry  of  nature  sang  in  his  heart  with  a  ravishing 
simplicity  and  spontaneity.  There  are  no  or  almost  no 
descriptions  among  his  sayings;  but  the  right  expression 
always  comes  to  mark  the  emotion  he  has  felt.  And  besides, 
who  can  ever  explain  the  effect  of  a  natural  setting  on  the 
later  development  of  a  great  soul?  To  experience  as  a 
child  a  communion  with  nature  that  is  spontaneous,  free 
from  literary  associations  or  coercion  of  any  kind,  is  per- 
haps one  of  the  conditions  of  the  normal  evolution  of  the 

5  Renan,  op.  cit.,  p.  67. 


134  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

religious  process.  The  Father  came  to  Jesus  in  this  way, 
as  he  came  to  him  through  his  conscience.  He  heard  him 
speaking  on  the  mountains  of  his  country,  through  the  lilies 
of  the  field  and  the  birds  of  the  sky. 

Side  by  side  with  this  source  of  religious  education,  there 
were  others.  One  of  the  most  important  was  the  Holy 
Scripture.  We  can  distinguish  without  much  difficulty  the 
books  of  the  Old  Testament  that  seem  to  have  impressed 
him  most.  The  Law,  the  Torah,  with  its  ten  command- 
ments, was  well  known  to  him;  but  it  does  not  appear  that 
his  sympathies  flowed  particularly  in  this  direction.  The 
book  of  Psalms  and  that  of  the  prophet  Isaiah  no  doubt 
spoke  more  forcibly  to  his  heart.  Later,  we  can  imagine 
the  powerful  consolation  and  the  source  of  strength  which 
he  found  in  reading  Jeremiah,  that  just  man,  constantly 
suffering  and  persecuted,  faithful  to  the  end,  in  whom  Jesus 
must  have  found  so  many  points  of  resemblance  with  him- 
self and  his  own  fate.  The  apocryphal  writings  of  the 
Old  Testament  were  current  also,  along  with  the  books  that 
were  definitely  entered  in  the  canon.  No  doubt,  Jesus 
read  the  book  of  Enoch  and  the  Wisdom  of  Jesus  the  son 
of  Sirach.  Finally,  we  should  mention  the  book  of  Daniel; 
this  reflects,  according  to  Renan,  the  ideas  which  were  dear 
to  Persia  and  which  made  their  way  even  to  Rome,  where 
Virgil  echoed  them.  Renan  points  out,  not  without  reason, 
that  Greece  had  excellent  historians  and  admirable  philoso- 
phers, but  that  it  never  possessed  a  system  of  the  philosophy 
of  history,  embracing  all  humanity.  The  Semite,  on  the 
contrary,  is  quick  to  seize  the  great  lines  of  the  future; 
he  has  the  prophetic  gift.  "Perhaps  he  may  owe  a  little 
of  this  spirit  to  Persia,"  Renan  remarks.  "Persia,"  he  con- 
tinues, "had  from  very  early  times  conceived  of  the  history 
of  the  world  as  a  series  of  cycles,  over  each  of  which  a 
prophet  presided.     Each  prophet  had  his  hazar,  or  reign 


CHILDHOOD  AND  YOUTH  135 

of  a  thousand  years  (chiliasm),  and  of  these  successive 
ages,  analogous  to  the  millions  of  centuries  that  fell  to 
each  Buddha  in  India,  there  was  made  up  the  course  of 
events  which  prepared  the  reign  of  Ormuzd.  At  the  end 
of  time,  when  the  circle  of  chiliasms  was  completed,  would 
come  the  final  paradise.  Then  men  would  live  happily;  the 
earth  would  be  like  a  plain;  there  would  be  only  one  tongue, 
one  law,  and  one  government  for  all  men.  But  this  out- 
come was  to  be  preceded  by  terrible  calamities.  Dahak 
(the  Satan  of  Persia)  was  to  break  the  irons  that  enchained 
him  and  hurl  himself  upon  the  world.  Two  prophets  were 
to  come  to  console  men  and  prepare  them  for  the  great 
event."  ^ 

Such  are  the  apocalyptic  ideas  with  which  the  book  of 
Daniel  and  that  of  Enoch  are  inspired  throughout.  They 
had  gradually  permeated  the  Jewish  mind,  harmonising  as 
they  did  with  the  messianic  idea  of  the  prophets.  Every- 
where people  were  expecting  the  great  renewal  and  the 
work  of  the  Messiah.  On  the  other  hand,  national  events 
had  broken  the  people's  faith  in  the  Old  Testament  con- 
ception that  the  righteous  man  is  rewarded  here  below  for 
his  righteousness  and  driven  the  spirit  to  seek  for  another 
solution.  The  book  of  Job  is  a  v/itness  of  this  restless  and 
ardent  search.  The  idea  of  the  resurrection,  of  a  new  reign 
of  the  righteous,  who  would  return  to  earth  and  participate 
in  the  triumph  of  the  Messiah,  became  more  and  more 
general.  While  the  Sadducees  would  have  nothing  to  do 
with  it,  the  Pharisees,  who  had  the  ear  of  the  people,  had 
adopted  it.  Jesus,  from  the  moment  when  he  began  to 
reflect,  found  himself  in  a  spiritual  atmosphere  that  was 
drenched  with  these  ideas  and  these  hopes.  They  were 
not  taught  in  any  school,  but  they  were  in  the  air.  The 
pious  lived  in  them.    A  few  zealots  carried  their  faith  in 

«Renan,  op.  cit,  p.  49. 


136  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

them  to  the  point  of  exaltation;  and  as  a  result  of  the 
pressure  which  the  Roman  yoke  exerted  on  the  people,  they 
emerged  under  the  form  of  sedition  and  revolt.  Death  was 
accounted  nothing.  The  zealots  killed  those  who  disre- 
garded the  law.  Messiahs  who  were  more  or  less  poli- 
ticians, men  like  Judas  the  Gaulonite,  led  the  multitude 
into  a  holy  war  against  those  who  imposed  the  census  upon 
them  and  demanded  for  Caesar  the  money  which  they  owed 
to  God  alone,  since  he  was  the  sole  Master. 

Of  all  these  things  the  child  Jesus  heard  people  talking.'^ 
While  he  was  growing  in  wisdom  and  in  grace,  he  was 
separating,  in  his  heart,  the  good  grain  from  the  tares,  and 
gradually  becoming  aware  not  only  of  what  was  extravagant 
and  carnal  in  the  popular  demands,  but  also  of  the  mag- 
nificent enthusiasm  which  was  manifesting  itself  under  these 
often  barbarous  outbursts  of  the  popular  spirit.  Attentive 
thus  early  to  the  paternal  voice  which  spoke  in  him,  he  re- 
discovered it — perverted,  altered,  often  all  but  unrecognisa- 
ble— in  these  violent  underground  currents  in  the  conscious- 
ness of  his  people.  With  his  first  enthusiasms  his  first 
sufferings  were  to  begin:  as  he  listened  to  what  they  were 
saying  in  the  workshop  in  Nazareth,  how  many  times  his 
heart  must  have  leaped  with  mingled  joy  and  indignation! 
A  powerful  education,  the  talk  of  the  common  people,  when 
it  is  absorbed  by  a  consciousness  worthy  of  the  name! 

Did  Jesus  undergo  any  other  education  than  this?  Must 
we  look  in  him  for  the  influence  of  a  caste,  a  more  or  less 

''The  influence  of  the  apocalyptic  eschatology  on  Jesus  has  formed 
the  subject  of  an  immense  number  of  discussions  started  among  the 
theologians  under  the  influence  of  Wrede.  A  summary  of  these  is  to 
be  found  in  chaps.  XIX-XXI  of  Alb.  Schweitzer,  Geschichte  der 
Lehen-Jesu  Forscliung.     Tiibingen.     Mohr,  1918. 

Cf.  also  Wrede,  Messiasgeheimiiis  in  den  Evangelien.  Gottingen, 
1901,  pp.  206. 

Schweitzer,  A.,  Das  Messianifdts-  und  Leidensgeheimnis.  Eine 
Skisse  des  Lebens  Jesu.    Tiibingen-Leipzig,  1901,  pp.  109. 

See  also  below,  chap.  IV,  §3  and  chap.  VII. 


CHILDHOOD  AND  YOUTH  137 

sectarian  moral  or  religious  group?     Did  he  receive  some 
sort  of  esoteric  teaching,  of  which  the  traces  are  to  be 
found  later  in  his  own  teachings?     There  are  some  who 
believe  that  this  was  the  case,  and  they  name  as  among 
the  masters  of  Jesus  the  Essenes,  that  little  known  and 
more  or  less  monastic  order  which  was  distinguished  by  its 
severely  ascetic  practices,  derived  probably  from  the  Orient. 
M.  Schure  has  built  up  the  portrait  he  gives  us  of  Jesus 
in  Les  grands  inities  on  this  uncertain  foundation.     The 
theosophists  ®  have  followed  him.    "The  Essenes  had  their 
dwellings,"  says  Renan,^  "on  the  borders  of  the  Dead  Sea. 
Abstinence  from  flesh,  from  wine,  from  sexual  pleasures  was 
the  accepted  novitiate  of  the  revealers  of  the  truth.    It  is 
supposed  that  the  leaders  of  the  sect  were  hermits  having 
their  own  rules  and  institutions  like  the  founders  of  re- 
ligious orders.     The  masters  of  the  young  men  were  also 
at  times  anchorites  of  a  kind,  somewhat  like  the  gourous  ^" 
of  Brahmanism." 

Two  lives  of  Jesus,  dating  from  the  end  of  the  eight- 
eenth century  and  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth,  that  of 
Karl-Friedrich  Bahrdt,  Ausjiihrung  des  Plans  und  Zwecks 
Jesu  ( 1 784-1 792)  and  that  of  Venturini,  Natiirliche  Ge- 
schichte  des  grossen  Propheten  von  Nazareth  (1800- 1802) 
are  probably  responsible  for  this  association  of  Jesus  with 
the  Essenes.  We  have  only  to  analyse  their  contents  to 
show  the  inanity  of  the  hypothesis.  I  shall  do  this  in  a 
few  words: 

Bahrdt,  who,  for  the  rest,  had  a  far  from  edifying  life,  finds 
the  key  to  the  history  of  Jesus  in  two  personages,  Nicodemus 
and  Joseph  of  Arimathea,  who,  as  it  appears  to  him,  can  have 
been  nothing  else  than  Essenes.     Now  this  order  possessed  its 

s  Cf.  Besant,  a.,  Esoteric  Christianity. 
^  Renan,  op.  cit.  p.  loi. 
^°  Spiritual  preceptors. 


138  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

secret  members  in  all  circles  of  societ}'',  even  in  the  Sanhedrin. 
Their  object  was  to  deliver  the  people  from  their  earthy  and 
material  messianic  conceptions  and  lead  them  to  a  more  ele- 
vated knowledge.  For  this  reason  it  was  necessary  to  find  a 
Messiah  who  would  come  to  destroy  the  false  messianic  hope. 
Jesus  was  the  natural  son  of  Mary.  The  Alexandrian  Jews, 
Essenes  themselves,  succeed  in  approaching  him,  show  him  how 
the  priests  are  triumphing  over  the  people,  and  make  known 
to  him  the  teachings  of  Socrates  and  Plato.  When  they  tell 
him  the  story  of  the  death  of  Socrates  the  child  falls  into  con- 
vulsions, and  henceforth  desires  but  one  thing,  the  crown  of  a 
martyr. 

A  clever  Persian  later  gives  him  two  secrets  in  the  market- 
place at  Nazareth:  one  against  the  evil  eye,  the  other  the  secret 
of  curing  people  who  are  afflicted  with  nervous  disorders.  Then 
an  Essenian  priest,  disguised  as  a  shepherd,  instructs  him  grad- 
ually in  the  wisdom  of  the  Essenes.  At  twelve  Jesus  is  already 
so  well  prepared  that  he  disputes  with  the  scribes  in  the  Temple 
and  proves  to  them  that  miracles  are  impossible. 

Luke,  the  doctor,  is  then  introduced  to  him  and  places  his 
science  at  his  service.  They  decide  to  delude  the  people,  having 
recourse  to  miracles  and  deceptions,  and  Jesus  assumes  the  role 
of  the  Messiah  in  order  to  deliver  them  from  their  superstitions. 
He  has  serious  scruples  about  doing  this.  But  he  is  obliged  to 
obey  the  order;  and  they  point  out  to  him  the  high  aim  to  be 
attained  and  tell  him  that  Moses  did  the  same  thing. 

When  the  time  comes  for  him  to  be  received  as  one  of  the 
brothers  of  the  first  degree,  it  is  revealed  to  him  that  the  latter 
are  bound  to  die  for  the  order,  but  that  the  order,  by  a  secret 
procedure,  can  rescue  them  from  death. 

Here  we  are  told  that  the  Essenes  were  divided  into  three 
categories,  the  baptised,  the  disciples,  and  the  chosen.  The  first 
receive  only  the  common,  popular  doctrine;  the  disciples  go  fur- 
ther, without  being  initiated  into  the  ultimate  secrets ;  the  chosen, 
also  called  "angels"  in  the  gospels,  are  completely  initiated.  Now 
the  apostles  possessed  only  the  second  degree;  they  were  dis- 
ciples; therefore  they  did  not  know  the  secret  plot  and  they  be- 
lieved in  the  miiracles  which  the  initiates  had  arranged. 

Jesus  had  two  methods  of  teaching:  one  for  the  initiates,  the 
other  for  the  non-initiates. 


CHILDHOOD  AND  YOUTH  139 

The  members  of  the  order  assembled  on  fixed  days  in  the 
caves  of  the  mountain.  When  Jesus,  as  the  gospels  tell  us,  went 
alone  to  the  mountain  to  pray,  it  means  that  he  was  going  to 
one  of  these  meetings  of  the  order. 

At  one  of  these  meetings,  the  Essenian  authorities  arrived 
at  the  conclusion  that  only  material  actions  could  succeed  in 
conquering  matter.  It  was  necessary  that  the  Jewish  Messiah 
should  visibly  die  and  be  raised  again  in  order  at  once  to  fulfil 
the  popular  expectation  and  to  destroy  it,  while  at  the  same  time 
spiritualising  it.  Luke  guaranteed  that,  with  the  help  he  would 
give  him,  Jesus  could  endure  the  sufferings  of  the  crucifixion. 
Nicodemus  would  do  his  best  to  arrange  everything  in  the  San- 
hedrin  so  that  the  judgment  and  the  removal  from  the  cross  would 
follow  one  another  closely;  the  crucified  would  remain  only  for 
a  short  time  fastened  to  the  cross.  The  discussion  had  reached 
this  point  when  Jesus  suddenly  dashed  into  the  cave,  pursued 
by  hired  assassins  who  were  trying  to  kill  him.  It  was  important 
for  him  to  escape  death  at  their  hands  before  the  great  scene. 

In  the  end  they  are  successful.  Matters  move  quickly.  The 
condemnation  is  pronounced.  Jesus,  crucified,  has  just  died, 
uttering  a  great  cry.  Joseph  of  Arimathea  carries  the  body  into 
the  tomb.  There  Luke  has  prepared  heroic  remedies;  Jesus  is 
restored  to  his  feet;  the  stone  is  thrown  down;  the  guard  flees. 
Then  follow  the  successive  appearances  before  the  disciples  and 
finally  the  separation  on  the  Mount  of  Olives.  Jesus  retires  to  his 
mother's  house  and  henceforth  ceases  to  mingle  in  public  life; 
but  until  his  death  he  presides,  invisibly  and  from  afar,  over  the 
life  of  the  community. 

In  the  case  of  Venturini  we  are  dealing  with  a  far  more  inter- 
esting, devout,  and  honest  mind.  Venturini  died  in  poverty  after 
a  hard  life.  His  Life  of  Jesus  has  been  re-issued  almost  every 
year  since  his  death,  which  shows  how  much  it  is  still  read.  We 
shall  only  consider  it  in  connection  with  one  special  point:  the 
relation  between  Jesus  and  the  Essenes.  Venturini  has  no  doubt 
of  the  influence  of  this  order  on  Jesus;  he  dates  it  from  the 
stay  of  the  holy  family  in  Eg3^t.  From  this  time  on,  the 
Essenes,  with  the  help  of  his  cousin  John,  watched  over  the 
education  of  Christ  to  prepare  him  for  his  task  as  the  Redeemer. 
Venturini,  however,  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  bizarre  and  un- 


I40  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

pleasant  conception  of  Bahrdt,  who  makes  it  all  a  sordid  comedy. 
He  sees  in  the  attempt  of  the  Essenes  something  far  more  serious. 
According  to  him,  Jesus  shares  the  intention  of  the  heads  of 
the  order  to  educate  the  popular  conscience ;  he  even  goes  beyond 
them  and  undertakes  personally  to  turn  people's  minds  from 
their  earthly  and  vulgar  faith  in  a  Messiah,  by  becoming  some- 
thing else  and  giving  himself  for  something  else.  For  a  moment 
he  seems  to  succeed,  at  the  time  of  his  triumphant  entry  into 
Jerusalem ;  but  the  people  turn  against  him  and  the  condemnation 
follows  quickly.  Jesus  goes  to  his  death,  believing  himself  that 
he  is  really  dying.  It  is  only  later,  after  the  descent  from  the 
cross,  that  Joseph  of  Arimathea,  observing  the  blood  on  the 
wounds,  conceives  the  hope  that  Christ  is  still  living.  He  then 
goes  in  haste  for  the  members  of  the  order;  one  of  them  arrives 
In  white  raiment:  this  is  the  angel  who  frightened  the  guards. 
All  together  they  decide  to  watch  over  the  body.  For  twenty- 
four  hours  nothing  happens.  Towards  morning,  however,  the 
brother  on  guard  hears  a  noise;  it  is  Jesus  rising.  Then  the 
whole  order  bestirs  itself  and  they  carry  him  to  the  house  of 
the  society.  Two  brothers  remain  at  the  tomb;  these  are  the 
two  angels  whom  the  women  saw.  Then  Jesus  shows  himself 
to  his  followers  for  forty  days,  after  which  his  strength  is  ex- 
hausted. 

Here  we  have  a  summary  of  the  two  lives  of  Jesus  upon 
which  are  founded  the  affirmations  of  those  who  maintain 
that  Jesus  was  an  Essene,  or  was  influenced  from  his  child- 
hood by  the  Essenian  ideas.  One  can  see  how  flimsy  the 
basis  is.  Bahrdt  and  Venturini  themselves  proceed  in  this 
matter  by  assertions.  They  give  no  legitimate  foundation 
for  their  claims.  They  limit  themselves  to  making  state- 
ments. At  this  rate  we  can  imagine  anything  we  wish; 
nothing  is  easier. 

A  few  very  superficial  resemblances  between  the  teaching 
of  Jesus  and  that  of  the  Essenes,  such,  for  example,  as 
the  refusal  to  take  oaths,  are  not  sufficient  to  establish  this 
connection  on  any  firm  basis.  Jesus  cannot  be  called  an 
Essene  merely  because,  like  the  Essenes,  he  gathered  about 


CHILDHOOD  AND  YOUTH  141 

him  a  circle  of  disciples,  or  because  he  counselled  his  fol- 
lowers not  to  take  money,  or  to  have  two  tunics."  It  must 
be  remembered  that  Essenism  was  a  sort  of  monachism  that 
fled  the  world  and  avoided  all  contact  with  it;  there  was 
something  sectarian  about  it,  something  that  denied  reality. 
This,  indeed,  was  its  essential  character.  But  Jesus  desires 
to  act  upon  the  world;  he  does  not  wish  his  disciples  to 
withdraw  from  it  but  to  change  it.  One  of  the  precepts 
of  the  Essenes  is  the  following:  "Whoever  meets  his  own 
brother,  if  the  latter  is  not  a  member  of  the  order  or  even 
a  novice,  must  take  a  bath  of  purification;  for,  by  this 
contact  alone,  he  has  become  impure."  What  has  this  in 
common  with  the  spirit  of  Jesus  and  the  parable  of  the 
Good  Samaritan?  Jesus  breathes  the  joy  of  action;  the 
Essenes  retired  into  the  solitudes,  sheltering  themselves 
from  the  world.  Finally,  the  order  of  the  Essenes  was  a 
sacramentarian  community;  the  essential  thing  for  its  mem- 
bers was  the  sacred  acts  celebrated  in  common,  the  vows, 
the  purifications,  the  sacred  feasts.  Jesus,  on  the  contrary, 
directs  his  activity  towards  that  which  is  spiritual  and  per- 
sonal. Even  when  he  celebrated  the  Last  Supper  it  is  doubt- 
ful if  he  had  any  intention  of  inaugurating  a  sacrament; 
this  seems  improbable.  In  any  case,  he  had  no  desire  to 
found  a  community  of  monks. 

There  is  then,  we  may  conclude,  only  a  superficial  re- 
semblance between  Essenism  and  Jesus,  and  nothing  that 
might  lead  us  to  suppose  that  there  was  any  deep  connec- 
tion between  this  movement  and  the  person  of  Christ.  It 
is  entirely  possible  that,  as  a  child,  Jesus  may  have  heard 
the  Essenes  spoken  of  and  that  his  mind  may  have  lingered 
over  some  of  their  customs  and  a  few  of  their  practices. 
But  to  imagine  that  his  education  was  controlled  by  the 

1^  Cf.  Staffer,  Jesus-Christ,  sa  pcrsonn-e,  son  auforitr,  son  cucre, 
III,  p.  185.    Id.,  La  Palestine  au  temps  de  Jesus-Christ,  ch.  XIV. 


142  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

Essenes  or  even  that  any  individual  Essene  exercised  any 
influence  over  his  early  years  is  a  purely  gratuitous  suppo- 
sition the  improbability  of  which  becomes  striking  on  a 
careful  reading  of  the  gospels. 


§  2.     JESUS   IN   THE   TEMPLE   AT   THE   AGE   OF   TWELVE 

One  single  detail  of  the  childhood  of  Jesus  is  known  to 
us.  It  is  that  related  in  the  gospel  of  Luke  ii,  41-52:  the 
scene  of  the  Temple.  It  has  been  preserved  by  only  one 
of  the  evangelists.  On  the  other  hand,  this  scene  is  so 
much  in  accord  with  the  modern  findings  of  psychology, 
it  is  so  readily  explicable  at  just  this  period  in  the  life  of 
Christ,  it  so  perfectly  places  his  personality  at  this  moment 
of  his  psychological  development,  and  it  harmonises  so 
exactly  with  the  subsequent  events  of  this  development  that 
it  would  be  unwise  to  suspect  its  authenticity. 

Jesus  was  twelve  years  old.  In  the  Oriental  countries 
this  age  corresponds  to  a  more  advanced  period  of  physical 
development  than  with  us.  It  is  about  the  age  of  puberty, 
when  the  child  becomes  or  is  about  to  become  an  adult. 
It  is  the  period  of  physical  and  psychic  disturbances,  the 
springtime  of  the  soul,  what  the  English  call  the  storm  and 
stress  period.  With  us,  this  age  is  marked,  from  the  re- 
ligious point  of  view,  by  the  catechism;  it  is  the  time  when 
children  are  given  their  religious  instruction.  The  Church 
was  led  by  a  very  sure  psychological  instinct  in  choosing 
this  moment  when  life  is  at  the  crossroads  for  the  essential 
decisions  concerning  herself.  She  obeyed  the  same  instinct 
which,  among  the  savage  peoples,  summons  to  the  initiation 
the  young  who  are  about  to  become  men  and  administers 
to  them  the  vows  in  the  initiatory  rites.  Among  the  Jews, 
the  recitation  of  the  Schema,  the  prayer  which  every  man 
must  repeat  morning  and  evening,  became  obligatory  at 


CHILDHOOD  AND  YOUTH  143 

the  age  of  twelve.  The  young  man  was  thus  in  a  sense 
admitted  to  the  religious  community  of  the  men;  he  took 
his  place  in  the  number  of  those  who  counted.  "He  had 
to  observe  the  Torah;  he  was  given  the  name  of  Bar 
Mitsvah.  He  was  taken  to  the  Temple  for  the  festivals, 
and  he  began  to  fast  regularly,  in  particular  on  the  great 
day  of  the  feast  of  Atonement."  ^^ 

Now  we  know  to-day,  through  the  investigations  of 
psychology,  that  this  age,  which  varies  with  race  and  cli- 
mate, in  which  the  most  important  and  the  most  trying 
physiological  changes  take  place,  is  also  the  moment  of 
parallel  and  capital  psychic  transformations.  The  child 
is  on  the  point  of  becoming  a  man;  and  this  does  not  take 
place  without  crises.  The  studies  in  religious  psychology 
of  Starbuck,  Wm.  James,  J.  Leuba,  G.  Coe  have  shown 
us  that  these  psychic  crises  manifest  themselves  very 
clearly  in  the  religious  life  and  that  the  age  of  puberty  is 
also,  roughly  speaking,  in  the  great  majority  of  cases,  the 
age  of  conversion.  We  shall  take  up  this  point  later,  in 
connection  with  Jesus.  For  the  moment,  let  us  merely  re- 
member the  fact. 

It  is  quite  natural,  from  what  we  have  already  said,  that 
Jesus,  having  reached  the  age  of  twelve,  should  have  made 
the  journey  to  Jerusalem  with  Joseph  and  Mary.  We  can 
easily  imagine  what  this  project  and  its  approaching  reali- 
sation, glimpsed  through  the  mists  of  the  future,  must  have 
meant  to  him.  To  see  the  Temple  was  to  know  at  last  the 
mystery  which  remains  veiled  from  the  eyes  of  children; 
it  was  to  approach  a  revelation  similar  to  that  to  which 
devout  young  Protestants  look  in  their  religious  instruction. 
Up  to  this  moment  Jesus  can  have  caught  but  vague 
glimpses  of  the  problems  that  arise  slowly  before  the  human 
soul.     He  had  probably  lived  by  intuition  rather  than  by 

12  Staffer,  La  Palestine  au  temps  d€  Jesus-Christ,  pp.  142-144. 


144  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

solutions,  as  happens  at  this  age.  It  does  not  appear  that 
he  had  experienced  any  of  those  violent  conflicts  which 
often  indelibly  stamp  the  souls  of  children  and  cause  dis- 
astrous repressions.  In  these  simple  surroundings,  life,  de- 
veloping without  shocks,  presented  fewer  contradictions 
than  in  our  great  cities  of  to-day.  Family  duty  and  social 
duty  were,  so  to  speak,  more  natural  than  they  are  in  the 
bosom  of  our  complicated  civilisations  in  which  the  instincts 
are  brutally  struck  down  by  the  exigencies  of  a  hurried 
and  conventional  life.  Besides,  there  was  undoubtedly  in 
the  soul  of  this  child  a  harmony  which  we  rarely  know.  We 
shall  say  later  what  makes  us  think  this. 

"The  pilgrimage,"  writes  Renan,  "was  for  the  Jews  of 
the  provinces  a  ceremony  full  of  sweetness.  Entire  series 
of  psalms  were  consecrated  to  the  singing  of  the  happiness 
of  families  journeying  thus  for  several  days  in  the  spring- 
time, over  the  hills  and  the  valleys,  having  always  before 
them  the  splendours  of  Jerusalem,  the  terrors  of  the  sacred 
parvis,  the  joy  of  brothers  dwelling  together.^^  The  road 
that  Jesus  usually  followed  on  these  journeys  was  that 
which  one  follows  to-day  through  Jenin  and  Shechem. 
From  Shechem  to  Jerusalem  it  is  very  difficult.  But  the 
approach  to  the  old  sanctuaries  of  Shiloh  and  Bethel,  close 
to  which  we  pass,  keeps  our  souls  on  the  watch,  Ain-el- 
Haramie,  the  last  stop,  is  a  melancholy  and  charming  spot, 
and  few  impressions  equal  that  which  we  experience  when 
we  make  camp  there  in  the  evening.  The  valley  is  narrow 
and  sombre;  a  black  stream  flows  from  the  rocks,  pierced 
with  tombs,  which  form  its  sides.  It  is,  I  believe,  the 
'Valley  of  Tears,'  whose  trickling  waters,  sung  as  one  of 
the  stations  of  the  road  in  the  delicious  Psalm  LXXXIV, 
became  for  the  sweet,  sad  mysticism  of  the  Middle  Ages 

13  See    especially    Psalms    Ixxxiv,    cxxii,    cxxxiii   (Vulgate,    Ixxxiii, 
cxxi,  cxxxii). 


CHILDHOOD  AND  YOUTH  145 

the  emblem  of  life.  Early  the  next  morning  one  will  be 
at  Jerusalem;  even  to-day  this  expectation  cheers  the  cara- 
van, rendering  the  night  short  and  sleep  light."  ^* 

We  can  easily  imagine  this  more  or  less  nomadic  life 
which  the  people  adopted  as  they  set  off  in  their  caravans. 
We  see  that  many-coloured  Oriental  crowd,  invading  the 
streets  and  the  squares  of  the  capital:  a  swarm  of  asses, 
men,  women,  and  children  that  filled  every  spot.  They 
went  into  the  Temple;  they  came  out  again;  they  crossed 
one  another's  paths  in  all  directions.  Our  regular  and 
comfortable  life  knows  nothing  of  such  carelessness  and 
such  disorder.  The  meal  hours,  which  bring  the  family 
back  to  a  fixed  spot,  did  not  exist  for  these  Oriental  chil- 
dren; they  were  entirely  given  over  to  their  passion  for 
seeing  and  hearing.  It  was  thus  undoubtedly  that  Jesus 
stepped  through  the  doors  of  the  Temple  and  approached 
the  doctors  and  the  scribes.  He  listened,  he  observed;  his 
heart  was  filled  with  that  indefinable  charm  of  dreams  that 
are  at  last  realised.  He  heard  them  speaking  of  those  things 
of  which,  without  his  knowing  it,  his  soul  had  always  been 
full.  He  went  away  and  came  back;  and  the  hours  passed 
and  even  the  days  without  his  being  aware  of  them.  Life 
like  this  was  good.  His  parents  were  not  disturbed,  so 
natural  it  was,  so  much  almost  a  matter  of  course,  that  a 
child  should  live  as  he  liked  during  the  festival.  It  was 
only  when  they  had  set  out  for  home  and  after  they  had 
inquired  among  their  relatives  and  friends,  that  Joseph  and 
Mary  began  to  be  anxious  and  retraced  their  steps.  They 
found  him  in  the  Temple,  seated  in  the  midst  of  the  doc- 
tors, listening  to  them  and  questioning  them.  Then  to  their 
reproaches  Jesus  answers:  "How  is  it  that  ye  sought  me? 
Wist  ye  not  that  I  must  be  about  my  Father's  business?"  ^° 

1*  Renan,  op.  cit.,  pp.  71-72. 
15  Luke  ii,  49. 


146  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

A  reply  at  once  full  of  assurance  and  surprise!  For 
the  first  time,  Jesus  is  aware  of  a  difference  between  his 
own  experience  and  that  of  his  parents.  He  is  astonished 
that  they  do  not  know,  when  he  is  completely  occupied  with 
the  one  thing  necessary.  What  is  more,  he  affirms,  as  the 
simplest  fact  in  the  world,  the  urgency  of  his  duty,  to  be 
about  his  Father's  business.  Whence  does  this  entirely 
natural  appellation  "My  Father"  come  to  him?  Where 
has  he  found  it?  How  is  it  possible  for  him  to  use  it  with 
such  perfect  simplicity  in  replying  to  his  own  parents?  We 
have  here  evidently  the  spontaneous,  direct  testimony  of 
a  new  experience,  one  which,  for  him,  surpasses  all  others, 
an  experience  which  he  believes  is  common  to  all  .  .  .  and 
behold,  his  parents  do  not  know  of  it!  He  perceives  that 
they  are  ignorant,  or  that  they  appear  to  be  ignorant,  of 
what  is  now  for  him  the  centre  of  life:  his  Father's  business, 
that  which  relates  to  his  Father,  to  the  God  who  speaks 
in  him. 

Every  candid  child  has  had  similar  surprises,  every  child, 
at  least,  who,  about  to  become  a  man,  has  looked  at  the 
world  with  a  frank  soul,  a  soul  directed  by  God.  But  with 
us  they  are  quickly  effaced  by  our  participation  in  the 
common  insincerity  which  places  the  cares  of  the  outer 
world  before  the  inner  truth.  People  persuade  us — and  we 
are  easily  persuaded — that  we  are  foolish  to  have  believed 
in  the  primacy  of  the  conscience  and  the  sovereignty  of 
absolute  truth;  and  it  is  then  that  we  begin  to  waver  be- 
tween serious  morality  and  distraction. 

With  Jesus,  nothing  of  this  kind  occurs.  His  testimony 
to  the  truth  which  he  has  seized  inwardly  is  complete  and 
absolute.  He  suffers  from  no  division  of  mind.  Hence  his 
astonishment  that  others,  especially  his  parents,  do  not 
know  what  he  knows. 

But  what  does  he  know?     That  he  must  be  about  his 


CHILDHOOD  AND  YOUTH  147 

Father's  business,  that  this  is  the  first,  the  urgent  duty 
which  takes  precedence  over  all  the  rest. — And  for  how 
long  has  he  known  this?  Just  for  a  moment,  no  doubt. 
He  has  always  felt  it,  but  he  has  felt  it  only  obscurely. 
Now  he  knows  it,  and  it  is  this  which  is  new. 

We  spoke  a  moment  ago  of  the  age  of  Jesus  and  the 
age  of  conversions.  Is  there  not  a  connection  between  what 
has  just  taken  place  in  his  soul  and  the  facts  of  conversion 
as  they  have  been  studied  by  the  psychologists?  Certainly, 
and  to  make  it  clear  let  us  recall  briefly  what,  from  the 
psychological  point  of  view,  conversion  is. 

If  we  consider  the  consciousness  as  a  sort  of  constant 
current  of  concepts,  ideas,  images,  volitions,  etc.,  accompa- 
nied by  their  affective  coefficients,  conversion,  every  con- 
version, whether  to  religion  or  to  atheism,  is  constituted 
psychically  by  the  fixation  of  the  person's  focus  of  energy 
upon  a  certain  group  of  associated  ideas,  images,  etc.,  which 
become  decisively  preponderant  and  marked.  If  it  is  re- 
ligious ideas  which  become  the  centre,  the  conversion  will 
be  a  religious  conversion.  That  is  the  schema  of  the 
process  of  conversion.  For  conversion  to  take  place,  then, 
one  field  of  consciousness  must  be  substituted  for  another, 
through  the  sudden  variation  of  the  person's  focus  of  en- 
ergy, or,  if  you  will,  of  his  interest.  In  reality,  however, 
the  process  is  less  schematic  than  this  and  is  complicated 
by  all  sorts  of  secondary  circumstances. 

If  now,  altering  a  little  the  position  of  our  glass,  we 
change  our  angle  of  vision  and  look  at  conversion  from 
the  point  of  viev/  of  psycho-analysis  and  the  observations 
it  has  given  us  on  the  human  personality,  we  find  approxi- 
mately the  following:  at  the  base  of  human  life  there  is 
a  sort  of  cluster  of  instinctive  energies  (the  libido)  which 
rise  in  the  being  with  a  variable  force.  These  instinctive 
impulses  are  most  frequently  repressed  during  childhood 


148  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

by  social,  pedagogical,  and  moral  restrictions.  But  they 
tend  to  re-emerge,  producing  destructive  effects  if  they  are 
prevented  from  doing  so;  if  they  are  not  prevented,  they 
come  forth,  the  occasion  and  the  conditions  being  given 
them,  and  are  transformed,  sublimated  into  noble  and  lofty 
aspirations;  they  cease  to  be  merely  instinctive  and  be- 
come morally  and  socially  utilisable.  From  this  point  of 
view,  conversion  is  a  sublimation  of  the  inferior  forces  of 
the  being  into  superior  forces,  a  sudden  or  slow  passage 
of  the  vital  force  from  an  instinctive  level  to  a  reflective 
level.  The  being  then  realises  the  possibilities  of  its  life 
along  religious  lines  and  rises  from  the  sphere  of  instinctive 
desires  to  that  of  the  effective  realisation  of  the  personality 
in  divine  love. 

I  shall  not  dwell  upon  this  schema,  although  it  might  be 
carried  much  further.  But  may  we  not  suppose  that  some- 
thing of  the  kind  took  place  in  Jesus  at  this  time?  Yes, 
but  mutatis  mutandis.  We  might  say  that  there  took  place 
in  his  life  something  equivalent  to  what  would  be  a  conver- 
sion in  our  own,  but  that  it  was  not  a  conversion  in  the 
generally  accepted  meaning  of  the  term. 

Let  us  attempt,  then,  to  understand  the  relation  estab- 
lished between  what  took  place  in  Jesus  in  the  Temple  and 
what,  in  the  religious  world,  we  call  a  conversion.  Let  us 
see  at  the  same  time  how  and  why  the  two  things  differ; 
in  what  respects  Jesus,  being  a  man,  underwent,  in  his 
spiritual  development,  an  evolution  analogous  to  that  which 
every  man  worthy  of  the  name  must  undergo;  and  how 
the  circumstances,  the  details,  the  psychic  processes  of  this 
transformation  differed  from  those  which  we  observe  in 
ourselves. 

If  we  combine  the  contributions  of  religious  psychology 
and  those  of  psycho-analysis  in  regard  to  conversion,  we 
find  ourselves  in  a  position  to  form  a  fairly  exact  idea 


CHILDHOOD  AND  YOUTH  149 

of  the  great  psychic  transformation  which  takes  place  in 
the  adolescent  at  the  moment  when  he  enters  manhood. 
We  know  that  at  this  eminently  critical  hour  of  his  develop- 
ment, a  complete  readaptation  of  the  forces  of  life  to  the 
environment  must  take  place.  The  child  is  no  longer  a 
child,  that  is  to  say,  the  infantile  life,  characterised  by  a 
scattering  of  interests,  comes  to  an  end.  Up  to  this  time, 
the  child  has  allowed  his  interest  to  wander  over  all  objects 
and  attach  itself  to  any  and  every  idea  in  a  confused  flut- 
tering. James  has  compared  the  variations  of  the  emotive 
tension  in  such  a  divided  and  hesitating  personality  to  the 
sparks  which  run  hither  and  thither  over  a  scrap  of  burning 
paper.  The  comparison  may  be  applied  to  the  soul  of  the 
child.  With  him  the  libido,  the  elan  vital,  projects  itself 
successively  and  without  discernment  upon  all  the  objects 
that  attract  his  attention. 

Now,  to  become  a  man,  to  form  one's  personality,  to 
pass  into  the  adult  state,  is,  from  the  psychical  point  of 
view,  to  become  a  unit.  At  the  age  of  which  we  are  speak- 
ing, the  life-impulse  becomes  very  strong;  the  instinctive 
forces  spring  up  with  great  power;  and,  at  the  same  time, 
they  are  obliged  to  adapt  themselves  to  the  surrounding 
reality.  The  young  man  finds  himself  faced  with  this  task 
of  harmonising  his  personality  with  the  life  which  he  must 
live. 

At  the  moment  when  this  violent  movement  takes  place 
the  subconscious  forces  that  spring  up  in  us  are  of  a  very 
diverse  nature.  We  are  confronted  with  instincts  that  may 
be  avowed  and  others  that  have  already  been  repressed 
by  the  censor.  The  cluster  of  our  libido  is  composite  and 
multiple.  It  does  not  adapt  itself  as  it  is  to  the  life  which 
we  must  live.  We  sometimes  feel  with  anguish  that  there 
are  impulses  within  us  which  cannot  come  out  as  they  are, 
which  must  be  sublimated  in  order  to  become  utilisable. 


150  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

And  the  more  a  young  man  feels  at  this  moment  the  neces- 
sity of  this  sublimation,  the  more  he  is  attracted  to  the 
religious  life  and  to  conversion.  The  crisis  becomes  immi- 
nent which  will  make  all  his  energies  converge  to  elevate 
his  vital  level. 

But  this  psychic  process  always  presents  itself  under  the 
form  of  a  crisis  because  in  us  it  early  meets  with  numberless 
repressions  with  which  it  must  reckon.  In  the  course  of 
our  childhood  we  have  not  candidly  submitted  ourselves 
to  the  inner  urge  of  our  instincts.  Nor  have  we  accepted 
candidly  the  obstacles  that  society  or  the  family  has  op- 
posed to  them.  There  has  been  a  disruption  within  us 
between  a  will  to  good  and  a  will  to  evil ;  we  have  at  times, 
in  one  way  or  another,  confirmed  in  our  hearts  the  censor 
that  is  opposed  to  us,  even  while  persevering  in  the  instinct 
that  pleased  us.  We  have  already  felt  ourselves  to  be 
double;  there  has  been  an  opposition  within  us  between 
the  man  of  the  fiesh  and  the  man  of  the  spirit.  And  when 
the  moment  comes  to  make  a  unity  in  us,  there  is  a  terrible 
duality  to  surmount.  The  inner  life-urge  cannot  be  accepted 
just  as  it  is.  In  order  that  we  may  become  children  of  the 
Father  and  worthy  of  the  human  task,  in  order  that  sub- 
limation may  take  place  in  us,  a  crisis  becomes  necessary 
in  which  the  whole  being  turns  back  upon  itself.  This  is 
what  we  call  a  conversion. 

But  we  can  imagine  this  accession  to  the  plenitude  of 
the  human  task  taking  place  in  another  fashion.  We  can 
imagine  a  man  in  whom,  from  childhood,  life  has  been 
so  spontaneous,  and  the  accord  between  the  inner  vital  urge 
and  the  external  exigencies  so  complete,  the  adhesion  so 
unanimous  to  all  the  demands,  all  the  postulates  of  life, 
that  there  is  no  duplicity  in  him,  that  instead  of  a  duality 
he  contains  a  harmony.  Imagine  this  child  reaching  the 
age  of  manhood;   the  new  adaptation  that  such  a  trans- 


CHILDHOOD  AND  YOUTH  151 

formation  demands,  the  accession  to  personal  responsibil- 
ities, the  necessity  of  choosing  for  oneself  the  direction  of 
one's  life  and  the  handling  of  one's  human  tasks,  these 
things  would  require  no  crisis,  but  simply  an  unfolding. 
And  this  indeed  is  what  seems  to  have  taken  place  in  Jesus. 
To  speak  our  modern  language,  the  scene  in  the  Temple 
signifies  that  his  whole  life-urge  had  been  placed  at  the 
service  of  the  highest  task,  and  this  as  a  perfectly  natural 
thing,  as  a  matter  of  course,  Jesus  has  no  need  to  be 
converted  in  order  to  adapt  himself  to  the  highest  life, 
that  is  to  set  about  his  Father's  business.  He  does  this 
naturally  and  is  astonished  that  his  parents  are  not  aware 
of  it.  This  seems  to  be  the  unique  case  in  which,  when  the 
moment  has  come,  that  is  to  say  at  the  time  of  adolescence, 
a  libido  has  sublimated  itself  entirely  into  religious  forces 
and  placed  itself  at  the  service  of  the  Father.  The  love 
of  God,  in  its  holiest  and  most  lofty  form,  absorbs  the 
whole  force  of  life  which  exists  in  Christ.  With  him  at  this 
moment  there  is  no  crisis  at  all.  The  crisis  will  occur  later 
when  the  time  comes  for  him  to  realise  in  a  human  and 
sinful  environment  the  attitude  towards  life  which  he  has 
assumed  here.  It  is  the  scene  of  the  Temptation  which 
shows  us  a  crisis  in  the  life  of  Jesus,  not  that  of  the  Temple; 
while  with  us,  there  is  a  crisis  not  only  when  we  seek  to 
realise  our  duty  in  a  practical  way  and  translate  it  into 
deeds,  but  before  this  time  as  well,  at  the  moment  when 
we  seek  to  make  the  attitude  of  duty  the  true  attitude  of 
our  life,  the  moment  when  we  perceive,  often  with  terror, 
always  with  a  partial  revolt,  that  we  must  be  about  our 
Father's  business. 

While  the  scene  in  the  Temple  occupies,  then,  in  the 
life  of  Jesus,  the  same  place  that  conversion  occupies  in 
our  own  life,  the  correspondence  is  not  complete;  and  by 
this  very  fact  it  reveals  to  us  a  difference  between  our 


152  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

lives  and  his,  not  in  their  essential  psychic  nature,  but  in 
respect  of  the  spiritual  mystery  which  lies  at  the  base  of 
every  personality.  Conscious  of  this  mysterious  superiority 
of  Christ,  men  in  all  ages  have  attempted  to  explain  it 
metaphysically.  In  this  we  shall  follow  neither  the  theo- 
logians nor  the  councils. 


CHAPTER  III 
BAPTISM  AND  TEMPTATION 

§  I.     THE   BAPTISM 

After  the  scene  in  the  Temple,  nothing  is  known  about 
Jesus  for  a  considerable  period,  fifteen  or  sixteen  years. 
The  gospels  are  mute  regarding  this  whole  epoch  in  the  life 
of  Christ,  and  we  are  reduced  to  conjectures  about  it.  Ah! 
if  only  the  discovery  of  some  new  manuscript  might  throw 
light  for  us  one  of  these  days  upon  this  silent  and  secluded 
development.  This  is  improbable,  but  it  is  always  possible. 
There  remains  to  us  only  the  resource  of  picturing  to  our- 
selves the  sweetness  and  the  harmony  of  these  years,  of 
this  lingering  youth,  passed  partly  in  the  labours  of  the 
paternal  workshop,  partly  in  solitary  meditation.  What 
labour,  illumined  by  the  simple  joy  of  a  simple  life!  And 
what  meditations! 

It  was  during  this  time  undoubtedly  that  the  subcon- 
sciousness of  Jesus  amassed  that  ample  provision  of  scenes 
from  life  which  were  to  emerge  later  in  the  form  of  the 
wonderful  parables  that  have  come  down  to  us  like  oases 
of  freshness  and  grace  in  the  desert  of  the  days.  He  con- 
tinued to  watch,  to  observe,  without  any  mental  reserva- 
tions, to  contemplate  life.  He  thought  of  the  future,  cer- 
tainly, but  not  with  the  anguish  and  the  eager  anxiety  that 
the  great  men  of  coming  times  were  to  know  only  too  well. 
In  the  peace  of  his  clear  soul,  the  immense  possibilities  of 
life  awaited  the  occasion  which,  in  due  time,  the  Father 
would  certainly  present  to  him.  Jesus  had  not  yet  made 
any  plans.    He  simply  felt  growing  within  him  that  effluvium 

153 


154  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

of  divine  life  which  makes  the  heart  tremble  with  joy.  He 
felt  himself  borne  forward  by  the  force  within  him  of  the 
good  news  come  from  Heaven  to  man.  He  desired  what 
the  Father  desired,  and  he  was  happy  in  it.  Heretofore 
this  will  had  not  defined  itself  clearly  outside  the  sphere  of 
simple  everyday  duties.  Jesus,  however,  was  listening.  A 
sort  of  solemn  expectation  must  have  hovered  over  his  life 
and  greeted  all  his  mornings. 

It  was  then  that  there  resounded  even  as  far  as  Nazareth 
the  fame  of  the  strange  prophet  who  was  baptising  on  the 
banks  of  the  Jordan,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Bethsaida 
and  ^non.  Hardly  older  than  Jesus  himself,  almost  his 
contemporary  and  therefore  in  the  full  flower  of  his  youth, 
he  astonished  the  people  of  Jerusalem  and  Judsea  by  his 
preaching.  It  was  like  the  blast  of  a  trumpet  suddenly 
awakening  the  sleeping  consciences  of  the  people  of  God. 
He  spoke  as  the  ancient  prophets  had  spoken,  but  more 
forcibly  and  directly  than  they.  He  announced  a  new  era, 
for  which  tlie  time  had  come  to  prepare.  He  said,  "The 
axe  is  laid  unto  the  root  of  the  trees"  and  he  maintained 
that  of  the  very  stones  of  the  road  God  could  make  children 
of  Abraham.  Here  at  last  was  a  true  spiritual  message, 
different  from  that  of  the  scribes  and  the  Pharisees,  and 
which  directly  echoed  the  experiences  of  life  which  Jesus 
had  for  so  long  felt  welling  up  within  him.  It  was  like  a 
herald's  note  announcing  that  Christ  was  awaiting  the  occa- 
sion to  come  forth  from  the  Nazarene  shadows  and  go 
wherever  God  should  send  him. 

With  the  others,  like  the  others,  Jesus  felt  himself  drawn. 
He  must  go  down  there,  and  watch,  and  listen.  They  were 
too  beautiful,  those  tidings  of  the  crowds  who  came  to  be 
baptised,  confessing  their  sins.  It  was  the  beginning  of  the 
light,  the  complete  radiance  of  which  Jesus  felt  in  himself, 
the  beginning  of  the  irradiation  of  the  enlightened  for  the 


BAPTISM  AND  TEMPTATION  155 

sake  of  the  rest.  Jesus  betook  himself  to  the  Jordan;  he 
walked  to  the  desert  solitudes  that  border  on  the  Dead  Sea. 
he  made  his  way  to  where  John  the  Baptist  was.  He  ap- 
proached. .  .  .Ah!  how  we  should  like  to  have  seen  him 
at  the  moment  when  he  arrived  there,  perhaps  during  one 
of  the  apostrophes  of  the  Baptist.  With  what  eyes  did  he 
look  upon  the  inspired  hermit!  What  feelings  of  joy  and 
solemn  sanctity  passed  at  that  moment  through  his  soul ! 

At  this  point  the  gospels  break  their  silence  to  describe 
for  us  in  a  few  lines  the  Baptism  of  Jesus.  Nothing  about 
the  thoughts  that  must  have  passed  through  his  mind. 
Only  the  fact;  but  how  eloquent  in  its  simplicity!  It  is  the 
act  of  social  and  moral  solidarity,  with  everything  which 
this  implies  in  the  way  of  renunciation  and  humiliation. 
Mingling  with  the  crowd  of  sinners  v/ho  have  need  of  re- 
pentance and  pardon  (and  how  great  a  need!)  he  who  feels 
that  his  soul  is  pure  and  his  conscience  spotless  advances. 
He  is  but  one  with  the  others;  he  wishes  to  be  but  one  with 
them.  Little  matter  the  consequences  that  are  to  result 
from  this  and  the  obstacles  that  are  to  be  spread  in  his 
way!  Jesus  feels  that  this  is  to  "fulfil  all  righteousness."^ 
Righteousness y  in  the  eyes  of  such  backsliders  as  our- 
selves, consists  in  assigning  to  each  his  proper  value,  not 
confounding  our  own  innocence  with  the  sin  of  our  neigh- 
bour. For  Jesus,  who  has  developed  all  of  a  piece,  who 
has  allowed  Life  to  work  its  will  in  him,  who  finds  in  the 
very  urge  of  his  deepest  instincts  the  Father  and  the  will 
of  the  Father,  there  is  a  higher  righteousness  than  that  of 
distinctions,  the  righteousness  of  a  deliberately  chosen 
solidarity  with  all  his  brothers."  He  wants  to  be  baptised 
with  the  sinners;  he  asks  to  be  included  with  all  the  others. 
His  purity  does  not  separate  him  from  the  circle  of  the  sin- 

1  Matthew  iii,  15. 

2  Cf.  in  connection  with  this  the  conception  of  justice  in  Isaiah  xxv. 


156  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

ners,  but  rather  leads  him  into  it;  and  the  more  he  feels 
himself  to  be  the  son  of  God,  the  more  he  desires  to  be  the 
son  of  man. 

In  response  to  this  voluntary  humiliation,  this  accepted 
solidarity,  there  comes,  as  always  happens,  a  higher  revela- 
tion that  is  like  an  inward  thrill  in  which  throb  all  the  divine 
forces  of  life.  The  gospel  describes  this  inner  palpitation 
by  means  of  two  symbols:  a  dove  and  a  voice. 

There  is  undoubtedly  something  here  for  psycho-analysis 
to  investigate.  It  appears,  in  the  first  place,  that  these 
phenomena  were  entirely  personal.  According  to  the  two 
gospels  of  Mark  and  Matthew  ^  it  is  Jesus  who  sees  the 
dove  descending  upon  him.  Luke  is  a  little  less  explicit.^ 
John,  later,  tells  us  that  it  was  the  Baptist  who  had  this 
vision,  and  that  it  was  addressed  to  him.^  As  for  the  voice, 
Matthew  does  not  tell  us  who  heard  it;  but  Mark  and  Luke 
made  it  an  interpellation  directly  addressed  to  Jesus: 
"Thou  art  my  beloved  Son,  in  whom  I  am  well  pleased." 
Finally,  Mark,  Matthew  and  Luke,  all  three,  speak  of  the 
heavens  opened  or  rent  asunder  before  the  eyes  of  Jesus. 

What  interests  us  here  is  the  psychic  event  that  took 
place;  and  this  is  clear.  It  is  a  feeling  of  perfect  com- 
munion with  the  Spirit  of  God,  a  sudden  illumination,  the 
profound  and  henceforth  inalienable  certitude  of  being  in 
a  filial  relation  to  the  Father  which  confers  a  special  mis- 
sion upon  him. 

The  scene  of  the  Baptism,  according  to  all  the  theologians, 
marks  the  commencement  of  the  public  life  of  Jesus.  It  is 
a  consecration  to  the  new  tasks,  the  beginning  of  a  voca- 
tion. Jesus  takes  his  life  in  his  hands  and  consecrates  it 
to  a  practical  mission.  Psychically  speaking,  we  are  wit- 
nessing here  the  movement  of  introversion,  of  a  return  upon 

3  Matt,  iii,  i6  and  Mark  i,  lo. 
■*  Luke  iii,  22. 
5  John  i,  2>2. 


BAPTISM  AND  TEMPTATION  157 

the  self  which,  in  every  great  consecrated  life,  precedes  the 
productive  extraversion,  the  practical  activity  in  the  outer 
world. 

Now  the  psycho-analysts  have  made  a  close  study  of  this 
introversion,  this  psychic  movement  of  a  return  into  the  self 
and  the  inevitable  symbolism  with  which  it  is  surrounded 
and  which  is  found  virtually  everjrwhere,  in  mysticism,  in 
the  myths,  fairy-tales  and  legends,  in  alchemy,  in  free- 
masonry and  Rosicrucianism,  in  all  the  movements  in 
which  the  mystic  life  plays  a  part.  They  have  remarked 
with  Silberer,"  and  more  recently  with  Jung,^  the  double 
bearing  of  these  symbols  which,  from  being  material,  gradu- 
ally become  junctional.  Understood  first  in  a  material 
sense,  they  attach  themselves  to  the  past  life,  to  some  event 
in  the  past  life  of  the  person  or  the  people  that  uses  them. 
They  call  up  an  image  of  the  past.  Then  gradually  they 
take  on  a  prospective  meaning,  if  one  may  so  call  it,  an 
annunciative  meaning,  an  enlarged  significance;  they  call 
up  something  higher,  more  noble  and  more  elevated. 

In  this  way  the  symbol  of  the  murder  of  the  father,  for 
example,  which  is  primitively  connected  with  the  feelings 
of  hatred  which  the  child  bears  to  its  father,  comes  to  sig- 
nify, in  the  individual,  renunciation,  the  sacrifice  of  these 
hateful  tendencies  in  the  name  of  a  general  love  for  one's 
neighbour.  The  desire  for  the  mother — the  sexual  desire 
for  the  mother,  the  return  to  her,  the  tendency  towards  her 
and  finally  incest — may,  in  dreams,  for  instance,  come  to 
symbolise  the  spiritual  new  birth. 

Let  us  apply  these  remarks  to  the  three  symbols  which 
we  find  in  the  account  of  the  Baptism:  the  dove,  the  open 
or  cloven  skies,  the  voice  affirming  Christ's  filial  relationship 
with  the  Father. 

6  SiLBERER,  Probleme  der  Mystik  und  Ihrer  Symbolik. 
"^  Jung,  Die  Psychologic  der  unbewussten  Prozesse. — See  also  above, 
Introd.  p.  45. 


158  ASPECTS  OF  TPIE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

It  is  not  surprising,  in  the  first  place,  that  Jesus,  in  the 
profound  emotion  of  baptism,  should  have  seen  a  dove 
appear  before  his  eyes,  that  he  should  have  pictured  to  him- 
self what  was  happening  to  him  inwardly  under  the  image 
of  a  dove.  We  are  told  that  among  the  Jews  the  dove  sym- 
bolised purity,  innocence,  and  sometimes  the  Holy  Ghost. 
I  do  not  know  whether  this  symbol  was  already  popularly 
accepted  at  that  time,  as  it  has  since  become,  thanks  to  the 
many  Christian  monuments  in  which  the  dove  represents 
the  Holy  Ghost.^  More  constant,  on  the  other  hand,  is  the 
fact  that  doves  or  pigeons  have  always  represented  love,  the 
union  of  love.^  Of  this  we  have  all  sorts  of  evidences. 
Who  does  not  know  La  Fontaine's  fable  of  the  two  doves 
who  loved  one  another  tenderly?  Now,  the  mystic  union, 
the  unio  mystica,  has  always  been  thought  of  as  a  marital 
union,  as  a  spiritual  wedding  (to  quote  the  phrase  of 
Ruysbroek).  One  has  only  to  recall  those  nuns  who,  in  the 
ages  of  fervour,  became  brides  of  Christ  and  received  from 
him  the  wedding-ring:   Saint  Catherine,  Marguerite-Marie 

8  We  find  doves  in  the  paintings  of  the  catacombs.  They  often  figure 
in  the  decorations  or  the  windows  of  churches,  in  the  centre  of  the 
triangle  that  represents  the  Trinity.  Finally,  in  our  own  day,  they  still 
ornament  the  Huguenot  crosses  that  Protestants  wear  about  their 
throats  in  place  of  the  Sacred  Heart  worn  by  Catholics. 

9  We  read  in  Robertson  Smith,  Lectur-es  on  the  Religion  of  the 
Semites,  Edinburgh,  Black,  1889,  p.  275 :  "The  dove,  which  the  Semites 
would  neither  eat  nor  touch,  was  sacrificed  by  the  Romans  to  Venus 
(Propertius,  iv,  5,  62)  ;  and  as  the  Roman  Venus-worship  of  later 
times  was  largely  derived  from  the  Phoenician  sanctuary  of  Eryx, 
where  the  dove  had  peculiar  honour  as  the  companion  of  Astarte 
(^lian,  A^at.  An.,  iv,  2),  it  is  very  possible  that  this  was  a  Semitic 
rite,  though  I  have  not  found  any  conclusive  evidence  that  it  was  so. 
It  must  certainly  have  been  a  very  rare  sacrifice ;  for  the  dove  among 
the  Semites  had  a  quite  peculiar  sanctity,  and  Al-Nadim  says  expressly 
that  it  was  not  sacrificed  by  the  Harranians  (Fihrist,  p.  319,  i,  21). 
It  was.  however,  offered  by  the  Hebrews,  in  sacrifices  which  we  shall 
by  and  by  see  reason  to  regard  as  closely  analogous  to  mystical  rites ; 
and  in  Juvenal  vi,  459  et  scqq.,  the  superstitious  matrons  of  Rome  are 
represented  as  calling  in  an  Armenian  or  Syrian  (Commagenian) 
haruspex  to  perform  the  sacrifice  of  a  dove,  a  chicken,  a  dog,  or  even 
a  child.  In  this  association  an  exceptional  and  mystic  sacrifice  is 
necessarily    implied." 


BAPTISM  AND  TEMPTATION  159 

Alacoque,  Saint  Theresa,  and  how  many  others!  The  asso- 
ciations of  ideas  called  up  in  the  soul  by  the  concept  of  a 
spiritual  union  are,  quite  naturally,  those  that  relate  to  the 
carnal  union.  If  the  dove  evokes  symbolically  the  union 
of  love  there  is  nothing  surprising  in  the  fact  that  it  should 
have  risen  from  the  depths  of  Christ's  subconscious  at  this 
hour  in  which  he  was  experiencing  the  spiritual  union  with 
God. 

But  there  is  no  need  to  dwell  here  upon  the  causal  roots 
of  this  symbol.  It  is  much  more  important  to  consider  it 
in  its  teleological  sense.  If  we  look  towards  the  future, 
towards  what  it  signifies  for  the  future  of  Christ,  if  we  con- 
template it  with  reference,  as  it  were,  to  the  prophetic  line 
which  it  announces,  it  assumes  a  much  wider  significance. 
It  symbolises  what  the  life  of  Jesus  is  going  to  be:  an  ever 
closer  and  deeper  union,  no  longer  with  that  which  belongs 
to  the  earth,  but  with  that  which  is  highest  in  life,  with 
that  Father  who  draws  him  to  himself,  who  desires  him, 
who  calls  him  to  an  unknown  destiny.  It  is,  as  I  have  said, 
the  consecration  to  a  mission,  the  form  of  which  is  still  un- 
known to  him  but  which  he  already  desires  in  his  spirit. 
He  will  allow  himself  to  be  seized  and  drawn  along  by  those 
personal  energies  which  are  in  him  and  which  are  to  lead 
him  where  they  will.  He  will  obey  the  inner  impulse  which 
he  felt  at  the  age  of  twelve  in  the  Temple  but  the  jealous 
exclusiveness  of  which  he  has  never  realised  fully  until  now. 
He  will  belong  utterly  to  Him  who  speaks  within  him,  even 
if  he  must  be  in  opposition  to  those  about  him  who  profess 
to  speak  in  the  name  of  God.  This  means,  at  bottom,  a 
complete  self-abandonment,  an  exclusive  union  with  a  per- 
sonal God,  the  God  of  the  conscience,  whatever  the  conse- 
quences may  be. 

The  open  or  rent  skies  {(JX''-S:0).iiyoi)<^):  this  expression 
makes  us  think  of  Hodler's  picture  of  William  Tell.    The 


i6o  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

hero  is  outlined  in  his  rough  simplicity  against  a  sky  back- 
ground of  half-open  clouds.  The  psycho-analysts  have  seen 
in  the  forms  of  these  clouds  opening  into  the  sky  that  of  the 
female  organs.  The  open  sky  is  nothing  else  than  the  ma- 
ternal womb  from  which  the  hero  has  sprung.  Here  we 
have  the  material  side  of  the  symbol;  it  carries  us  back  to 
the  mystery  of  origins.  But  if  we  turn  towards  the  future 
the  open  sky  means  something  else  as  v/ell:  the  assured 
communion  with  the  Beyond,  grace  manifesting  itself  by 
an  open  passage  from  heaven  to  earth,  the  suppression  of 
the  obstacle,  the  glass  wall,  that  continually  separates  us 
from  the  divinity."  Henceforth,  there  is  no  cause  for  fear; 
the  life  of  the  Christ  is  assured  of  constant  inspiration. 
Now  that  the  Holy  Ghost  is  within  him,  has  come  upon 
him,  it  will  be  the  same  with  him  always. 

Finally  the  voice.  It  says:  "Thou  art  my  beloved  son, 
in  whom  I  am  well  pleased."  What  does  it  matter  whether 
there  was  really  a  voice  or  not!  It  is  the  certitude  only 
that  counts,  the  certitude  of  the  fact  which  this  voice  ex- 
presses. The  voice  is,  in  this  sense,  the  symbol  of  a  new 
state  of  the  soul,  that  of  a  unique  and  special  sonship.  At 
twelve,  in  the  Temple,  Jesus  already  felt  this  sonship;  but 
now  it  is  something  more;  he  feels  that  he  is  the  object  of 
the  Father's  whole  affection.  The  experience  is,  in  a  way, 
the  same,  but  it  is  more  palpable;  it  has  increased  tenfold 
in  intensity  and  brought  with  it  a  corresponding  certitude. 
If  we  wished  to  translate  this  religious  experience  into  psy- 
chological terms  we  might  say  that  Jesus,  at  the  moment  of 
his  voluntary  abasement  in  the  baptismal  solidarity,  realises 
the  perfect  harmony  of  all  the  psychic  energies  that  are  at 
work  within  him.  The  elan  vital  which  he  feels  animating 
him  encounters  no  obstacle.     The  act  which  he  has  just 

10  The  dream  of  the  ladder  at  the  beginning  of  the__career  of  Jacob 
presents  similar  psychological  features  (Cf.  Gen.  xxviii,  10-22). 


BAPTISM  AND  TEMPTATION  i6i 

performed  liberates  the  creative  energies  within  him.  There 
is  no  repression  whatever.  Everything  flows  in  the  direction 
in  which  it  ought  to  flow.  There  is  no  opposition  between 
father  and  son,  as  is  usually  the  case  with  us  (and  this  is 
why  our  conscience  seems  to  us  a  yoke  and  a  hindrance). 
The  Father  loves  the  Son;  all  his  affection  is  in  him.  Jesus 
feels,  at  the  same  time,  fully  himself  and  animated  by  a 
force,  an  energy,  a  personal  dynamic  which  are  greater  than 
himself  and  yet  a  part  of  him,  as  a  loving  father  is  part  of 
a  beloved  son.  How  translate  this  impression  otherwise 
than  by  a  voice,  a  word  of  affirmation?  This  is  the  only 
adequate  symbol.  It  is  connected  with  the  impressions  of 
the  past;  from  childhood  it  is  by  voices  and  words  that  the 
affections  are  affirmed  which  come  to  us.  The  symbol  is 
borrowed  from  the  past,  but  it  projects  its  light  into  the 
future;  it  assumes  also  a  prophetic  aspect.  It  signifies  the 
guaranty  of  the  success  of  his  life,  the  conservation  of  those 
values  of  which  Christ  is  aware.  It  is  the  seal  affixed  to  the 
work,  whatever  it  may  be,  which  he  is  to  undertake. 
Then  Jesus  moves  away,  silent  and  alone,  into  the  desert. 

§  2.     THE    TEMPTATION 

After  the  Baptism,  the  Temptation.  This  will  arrest  us 
a  little  longer.  The  three  synoptic  gospels  refer  to  it,  Mark 
very  briefly,  the  two  others  in  more  detail.  John  does  not 
speak  of  it  at  all. 

In  all  times  the  theologians  have  found  something  prob- 
lematical in  the  story  of  the  Temptation.  It  does  indeed 
present  a  problem.  First  of  all,  its  nature  is  such  that  it 
would  have  to  have  been  related  after  the  event  by  Jesus 
himself.  No  one  was  present  at  the  Temptation,  since 
Jesus,  led  by  the  Spirit,  as  the  text  says,  went  into  the  desert 
alone.     It  is  therefore  an  instance  of  an  entirely  private 


i62  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

experience  and  thus  not  a  historical  fact  but  a  psychic  fact, 
to  be  approached  by  the  methods  of  psychology  and  not  by 
those  of  history.  This  has  always  embarrassed  the  theo- 
logians who,  caught  in  the  net  of  historical  methods,  feel 
for  them  a  sort  of  veneration  that  borders  on  superstition 
and  rise  with  difficulty  to  a  psychological  conception  of 
events. 

Many  examples  might  be  given  of  the  stupidities  that 
have  been  uttered  on  this  subject.  Strauss,  for  example, 
faithful  to  his  mythical  theory,  tried  to  see  in  the  Tempta- 
tion a  legend  of  primitive  Christianity,  woven  out  of 
motives  supplied  by  the  Old  Testament. 

Venturini,  with  his  somewhat  romantic  imagination,  has 
the  role  of  the  devil  played  by  a  Pharisee  who  has  come 
to  tempt  Jesus.  This  is  amusing  enough,  but  not  very 
charitable. 

Bruno  Bauer  sees  in  the  Temptation  an  account,  not  of 
the  experiences  of  Jesus,  but  of  those  of  the  primitive 
Christian  community.  It  was  the  latter  that  felt  the  temp- 
tations presented  to  us  as  those  of  Jesus,  and  it  projected 
them  backward  into  the  person  of  the  Lord  himself.  This, 
we  must  admit,  is  an  interesting  idea.  Although  nothing 
authorises  us  to  believe  that  the  matter  came  about  in  any 
such  fashion,  Bauer  must  at  least  have  the  credit  of  perceiv- 
ing that  we  are  concerned  here  with  a  human  experience 
which  is  repeated,  mutatis  mutandis,  in  every  Christian  soul. 
He  has  thus  set  up  a  bridge  between  Jesus  and  ourselves,  in- 
stead of  enlarging,  as  so  many  others  have  done,  the  abyss 
that  separates  the  Messiah  from  simple  mortals. 

As  for  Renan,  who  is  more  hasty  and  refuses  to  be  greatly 
embarrassed  by  anything  that  stands  in  his  way,  he  passes 
lightly  over  the  Temptation.  Observe  how  he  treats  it. 
"Until  the  arrest  of  John,"  he  says,  "which  took  place  ap- 
proximately in  the  summer  of  the  year  29,  Jesus  did  not 


BAPTISM  AND  TEMPTATION  163 

leave  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Dead  Sea  and  the  Jordan. 
A  sojourn  in  the  desert  of  Judea  was  generally  considered  " 
as  a  preparation  for  great  things,  as  a  sort  of  'retreat' 
before  a  public  career,  Jesus  followed  the  example  of  his 
forerunners  in  this  and  passed  forty  days  with  no  other 
company  than  the  wild  beasts,  practising  a  rigorous  fast. 
The  imagination  of  his  disciples  was  greatly  exercised  over 
this  sojourn.  In  popular  belief  the  desert  was  the  abode 
of  devils.  There  exist  in  the  world  few  regions  more  deso- 
late, more  abandoned  by  God,  more  shut  off  from  life  than 
the  stony  slope  which  forms  the  western  border  of  the  Dead 
Sea.  It  was  believed  that  he  had  passed  through  terrible 
ordeals  during  the  time  he  had  spent  in  that  fearful  country, 
that  Satan  had  frightened  him  with  his  chimeras  or  flat- 
tered him  with  seductive  promises,  and  that  afterwards,  to 
reward  him  for  his  victory,  the  angels  had  ministered  to 
him."  ^' 

Presto!  .  .  .  Renan  attaches  no  more  importance  than 
this  to  the  Temptation.  He  does  not  even  see  that  people 
do  not  invent  a  psychic  process  of  this  extent,  or  that,  if  it 
had  been  invented,  it  would  constitute  none  the  less  a 
prodigy  and  a  model  of  psychological  truth.  I  have  myself 
searched  in  vain  for  any  reason  to  attribute  this  adventure 
to  the  disciples  rather  than  to  Jesus;  nor  do  the  theologians 
offer  us  any  good  reasons  for  doing  so.  On  the  contrary, 
examined  closely,  the  gospel  narrative  of  this  episode  of 
the  inner  life  of  Christ  seems  to  me  to  accord  admirably 
with  the  moral  and  psychological  situation  that  was  his  at 
this  moment  and  to  harmonise  with  our  idea  of  the  ordeal 
which  the  utilisation  of  his  gifts  among  men  constitutes  for 
every  genius. 

Jesus,  we  remember,  had  just  passed  through  the  su- 

11  This  "generally  considered"  is  a  pearl. 

12  Renan,  op.  cit.,  p.  117, 


i64  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

premely  beautiful  and  exalting  experience  related  in  the 
episode  of  the  Baptism.  The  time  had  come  for  him  to 
translate  into  living  works  the  magnificent  hfe-urge  with 
which  he  felt  himself  flooded.  Now  in  such  an  environment 
as  his,  the  natural  expression  of  the  religious  genius  lay- 
along  the  extended  lines  of  messianism.  His  education,  as 
we  have  seen,  had  familiarised  him,  through  his  reading  and 
understanding  of  the  Scriptures  and  particularly  of  the 
Jewish  Apocalypses  and  the  prophets,  with  the  traditional 
figure  of  the  Messiah,  On  the  other  hand,  the  very  char- 
acter of  his  inner  life,  the  central  experience  of  his  soul, 
must  have  led  him  to  accept  certain  features  of  this  figure 
while  rendering  others  repugnant  to  him.  Finally,  the 
originality  and  the  sovereignty  of  the  inner  experiences 
through  which  he  had  passed  must  have  urged  him  invin- 
cibly to  manifest  outwardly  the  life  that  was  expanding  so 
abundantly  within  him.  He  had  to  act:  this  fact  he  had 
already  solemnly  accepted  in  the  Temple  when  he  was 
twelve  years  old.  Now  the  hour  for  practical  action  had 
struck;  the  appearance  of  the  Baptist  had  made  him  con- 
scious of  this  call.    The  time  had  come  for  him  to  begin. 

But  how?  That  was  the  agonising,  momentous,  alarm- 
ing, disquieting  question  upon  which  depended  the  salvation 
of  a  whole  people.  He  is  to  be  the  Messiah,  or  something 
approximating  to  that;  he  is  to  come  in  the  name  of  Him 
who  sends  him.  But  how  is  he  to  do  it?  Under  what  ban- 
ner and  bearing  what  colours?  How  is  he  to  reach  men 
in  such  a  way  as  to  act  upon  them,  to  communicate  to  them 
this  Father  whom  he  knows,  to  save  them,  without  com- 
promising what  gives  value  to  his  life  and  all  the  experiences 
of  his  life? 

The  crisis  awaits  him  here.  Nothing  of  this  sort  had 
presented  itself  to  him  when  the  question  had  been  simply 
of  the  direction  he  was  to  give  to  his  own  life.    It  arises 


BAPTISM  AND  TEMPTATION  165 

at  the  precise  moment  when  this  life  encounters  sinful 
humanity  with  the  purpose  of  manifesting  itself  to  it.  In 
this  lies  the  meaning  of  the  Temptation.  It  is,  at  bottom, 
the  temptation  which  ail  of  us,  or  almost  all  of  us,  have  to 
miss  our  own  life,  to  lose  it  in  paths  where  it  will  not  give 
us  what  it  should  and  can  give  us.  We  do  not  have  this 
temptation  as  messiahs,  we  have  it  as  men,  in  the  sense  and 
according  to  the  line  of  our  various  vocations;  but  this  does 
not  alter  the  psychological  process.  Psychologically,  we 
might  call  Christ's  Temptation  the  temptation  of  introver- 
sion. Perhaps  it  does  not  present  itself  to  extraverted  tem- 
peraments, to  those  in  whom  every  feeling  flows  outwards, 
to  objects,  things  and  persons;  but  when  a  man  begins  to 
meditate,  reflect,  pore  over  the  mystery  of  his  destiny,  to 
think  it  before  living  it,  he  is  on  the  brink  of  this  tempta- 
tion; and  it  is  only  by  surmounting  it  that  he  can  become 
a  living  soul. 

Now  it  so  happens  that  the  psycho-analysts,  as  we  have 
already  remarked,  have  been  much  occupied  of  late  with 
the  study  of  introversion.  In  the  light  of  what  they  have 
told  us  about  it  we  can  take  up  the  account  of  the  Temp- 
tation with  some  profit  and  grasp,  as  I  believe,  its  immense 
import,  at  once  in  the  life  of  Jesus  and  v/ith  respect  to  our 
own  lives. 

It  is  not  very  easy,  all  things  considered,  to  define  exactly 
what  introversion  is.  Many  people,  hearing  this  word  and 
constantly  encountering  it  on  the  pens  of  the  psycho- 
analysts, seize  their  heads  in  their  hands  and  conjure  us  to 
explain  to  them  what  it  means.  Let  us  attempt  to  do  so 
now,  better  at  least  than  we  have  done  it  thus  far. 

Jung  gives  us  the  best  account  of  it  in  his  two  most  recent 
books,  Die  Psychologie  der  unbewussten  Prozesse  and 
Psychologische  Typen.  He  does  so  indirectly,  however,  for 
it   must  be   admitted   that   these   concepts   employed   by 


i66  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

psycho-analysis  are  too  charged  with  life  to  be  easily  de- 
fined; we  must  be  able  to  feel  them  rather  than  to  under- 
stand them,  to  grasp  their  essentially  biological  meaning 
intuitively  rather  than  intellectually.  But  Jung  points  out 
that  men  in  general,  in  their  reaction  to  life,  present  two 
psychological  types,  in  one  of  which  the  essential  and  prin- 
cipal function  resides  in  feeling,  while  the  fundamental 
tonality  of  the  other  is  constituted  by  thought.  The  one 
unites  himself  with  the  object  through  feeling,  the  other 
thinks  first  and  foremost.  Among  men,  the  former  are  apt 
to  be  led  by  their  psychic  nature  to  feel  very  strongly 
everything  that  surrounds  them;  this  is  their  first,  spon- 
taneous tendency;  it  is  only  later,  after  they  have  acted, 
that  they  reflect  upon  what  they  have  felt,  and  even  then 
they  reflect  very  little  and  feebly.  Thought,  in  them,  plays 
only  a  secondary  part.  Jung  calls  these  the  extraverts,  that 
is  to  say,  those  who  turn  towards  the  outward  world,  whose 
feeling  expresses  itself  entirely  in  external  action.  The 
others,  on  the  contrary,  draw  back  before  the  object,  before 
the  external  world;  they  are  led  rather  to  think  about  what 
surrounds  them,  to  reflect  upon  the  external  and  internal 
events  of  their  lives.  They  do  not  lay  hold  precipitately 
upon  the  external  world  through  an  impulse  of  feeling; 
rather  it  is  thought  which  is  developed  in  them.  These  are 
the  introverts. 

In  reality,  these  psychological  types  are  not  divided  in 
any  such  absolute  fashion  as  our  description  might  lead  one 
to  imagine.  The  introvert,  for  example,  is  not  devoid  of 
all  feeling;  he  is  not  all  thought;  he  may  be  affectionate 
and  S5mipathetic  and  may  display  emotion.  But  if  we  ob- 
serve his  feelings  we  see  that  in  general  they  lack  personal 
originality;  they  have  no  individual  stamp;  they  are  the 
conventional  feelings  which  one  is  supposed  to  have.  The 
introvert  will  have  for  every  one  the  same  friendliness,  the 


BAPTISM  AND  TEMPTATION  167 

same  sympathy,  while  the  extravert  will  have  a  gamut  of 
feelings  that  are  finely  shaded  and  that  vary  with  their 
objects.  Similarly,  the  extravert  will  not  be  all  feeling;  in 
him  too  we  shall  find  thought;  he  may  even  succeed  in 
thinking  very  clearly,  even  very  scientifically.  If  we 
examine  them  closely,  however,  we  find  that  his  thoughts 
exist  in  him,  so  to  speak,  as  a  foreign  element,  as  so  many 
conventional  formulas  which  he  has  learned  and  retained 
by  rote.  They  lack  the  original,  individual  touch;  they  are 
colourless  and  pale,  just  as  are  the  feelings  of  the  other 
t3T)e,  the  introverted  type. 

When  these  two  types  are  blended,  they  complement  one 
another  admirably.  The  union  of  two  beings  of  these  dif- 
ferent t3^es  makes  a  good  marriage.  But  actually  every 
single  individual  inclines  more  or  less  to  the  side  of  intro- 
version or  to  the  side  of  extraversion ;  and  the  inner  con- 
flict which  upsets  the  equilibrium  of  our  lives  always  springs 
from  this  opposition  between  the  principal  and  strongly 
developed  function  that  dominates  in  us  and  the  secondary 
function  which  is  scarcely  or  not  at  all  differentiated  and 
which  remains,  most  of  the  time,  shut  up  in  the  subcon- 
scious. The  conflict  of  the  introvert,  for  example,  always 
springs  from  a  want  of  equilibrium  between  his  strongly 
developed  thought,  acting  consciously,  and  the  feelings,  still 
in  a  larval  and  undifferentiated  state,  that  stir  in  his  sub- 
conscious. Here  is  the  danger  which  menaces  men  of  this 
type. 

Now,  as  Jung  does  not  fail  to  point  out  also,  there  is  only 
one  means  by  which  either  of  these  two  types  can  overcome 
the  conflict  that  menaces  their  inner  selves,  the  psychic 
conflict  which  leads  people  into  neuroses  or  more  or  less 
serious  aberrations.  They  must  become  conscious  of  this 
opposition  within  them,  and  transcend  it,  so  to  speak,  by 
becoming  aware,  on  the  one  hand,  of  what  constitutes  them 


i68  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

as  conscious  beings,  and,  on  the  other,  of  that  which  is  stir- 
ring in  their  unconscious  as  an  element  foreign  to  their  ego; 
thus,  by  abolishing  the  opposition  between  these  two  move- 
ments, they  can  build  a  bridge,  making  a  harmony  between 
them.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  this  harmonisation  is  the  great 
task  of  life;  and  it  tends  to  take  place,  by  the  very  process 
of  life,  in  each  of  the  types. 

This  division  of  men  into  introverts  and  extraverts  is,  to 
be  sure,  like  all  psychological  divisions  and  classifications, 
a  little  summary;  it  does  not  allow  for  the  extremely  deli- 
cate nuances  of  the  psychic  life  or  correspond  with  its  finer 
outlines.  Every  one  probably  has  his  moments  of  intro- 
version and  his  moments  of  extraversion;  in  any  case,  a 
type  of  humanity  that  was  perfectly  harmonious  would 
unite  in  itself  both  these  movements  of  life  and  set  them 
to  work  in  turn.  We  may  say  in  passing  that  it  would  be 
very  difficult  to  classify  Jesus  as  of  either  of  these  types; 
he  has  the  characteristics  of  both,  and  he  combines  them 
at  times  in  a  fashion  that  is  disconcerting  to  our  simpler 
natures. 

In  the  scene  which  we  are  considering,  however,  what  we 
have  to  deal  with  is  undoubtedly  a  moment  in  which  intro- 
version dominates.  At  this  moment  life  is  in  the  grip  of 
thought,  and  the  conflict  which  takes  place  is  between  the 
question  of  living  the  messianic  life,  of  which  Jesus  is  think- 
ing at  the  time  and  which  he  is  embracing  in  his  thought, 
and  a  whole  world  of  vague  feelings,  still  subconscious  or 
barely  emergent  from  the  subconscious,  that  are  stirring 
indistinctly  in  the  depths  of  his  personality. 

To  refer  once  more  to  introversion,  since  the  temptation 
constitutes  a  moment  of  introversion  in  Christ's  life,  let  us 
see  what  are  the  issues  it  may  have.  Silberer  has  shown 
us  how  the  crisis  of  introversion  may  be  solved;  he  has 
assigned    to    it    three    possible    issues,    magic,    dementia 


BAPTISM  AND  TEMPTATION  169 

praecox,  and  mysticism.    What  he  means  by  this  may  be 
summed  up  as  follows: 

1.  One  who  is  on  the  road  of  introversion,  of  a  return 
upon  himself,  may  fail  in  action  by  seeking  the  satisfac- 
tion of  his  passions  in  an  artificial  manner.  It  is  this  which, 
among  all  the  primitive  peoples,  has  given  rise  to  magic. 

2.  Or  he  may  stop  short  with  the  dream,  lazily  enjoying 
himself  in  that  forgetfulness  of  external  reality  which  is 
favourable  to  the  return  upon  oneself;  this  indolence  of 
the  spirit  ends  in  his  creating  about  him  an  imaginary  world 
which  takes  the  place  of  the  real  world,  and  the  introvert 
finally  founders  in  the  dream.  This  is  the  neurosis  known 
as  dementia  praecox  in  which  the  patient  is  no  longer  aware 
of  what  surrounds  him  and  lives  in  an  imaginary  world. 
It  is  the  suicide  of  the  personality. 

3.  Lastly,  there  is  the  third  solution,  in  which  the  intro- 
vert ends  in  the  mystic  life,  creating  in  himself,  that  is,  a 
unity  between  his  outer  tasks  and  his  inner  experiences. 
But  here  again  there  are  two  possible  directions.  The 
mystic  life,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  does  not  always  represent 
a  state  of  equilibrium,  far  from  it!  That  is  why  the 
Catholic  Church  has  made  the  distinction  between  divine 
mysticism  and  diabolic  mysticism.  There  is  a  healthy 
mysticism,  and  there  is  an  unhealthy  mysticism.  Conse- 
quently, a  final  danger  of  introversion  consists  in  leading 
one  into  morbid  aberrations  of  the  mystical  life,  through 
a  neglect  of  the  moral  control  exercised  over  the  impulses 
that  spring  up  from  the  subconscious  and  are  liable  to  pour 
into  the  consciousness  pell-mell  and  pervert  it. 

Turning  now  to  the  text  of  the  three  temptations  which 
sum  up  the  great  decisive  crisis  at  the  beginning  of  the 
ministry  of  Jesus,  we  observe  the  curious  fact,  curious  yet 
as  clear  as  day,  that  they  offer  Christ  precisely  the  three 
disastrous  issues  of  introversion. 


lyo  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

First  a  sort  of  prologue  sums  up  the  situation.    It  tells  us: 

1.  That  the  Spirit  drove  Jesus  into  the  wilderness,  or 
that  it  led  or  conducted  him  there;  ^^ 

2.  To  be  tempted  of  the  devil  (Matt,  iv,  i),  or  that  he 
was  tempted  of  Satan  (Mark  i,  13); 

3.  That  he  was  in  the  midst  of  wild  beasts,  and  the 
angels  ministered  unto  him;  it  is  thus,  at  least,  that  Mark 
sums  up  the  situation. 

We  have  here  what  suggests  a  perfect  psychological 
abridgement  of  the  process  of  introversion. 

1.  It  is  the  Spirit,  the  divine  subconscious  forces,  the 
inner  impulsion,  the  elan  which  comes  from  above  and 
reaches  man  by  seizing  him  inwardly,  it  is,  as  Freud  would 
say,  the  libido,  the  cluster  of  unknown  vital  energies  which 
drives  Jesus  into  the  wilderness.  He  feels  that  he  is 
obliged  to  go  into  the  wilderness,  not  merely  the  wilderness 
of  sand  and  rocks  which  the  earth  offers  him,  but  also  that 
wilderness  of  the  soul,  that  deep  solitude  in  which  one 
descends  into  oneself,  far  from  human  beings,  in  meditation 
and  silence. 

2.  In  this  wilderness  he  does  not  find  God  only,  he  finds 
Satan  as  well,  the  devil,  the  genius  of  evil  who  tempts  us 
and  tries  to  make  us  fall.  Is  not  this  an  affirmation  of  the 
fact  that  in  descending  into  ourselves,  in  communing  with 
ourselves,  in  seeking  to  encounter  the  inner  impulse  that 
springs  up  naturally  in  our  being,  we  recognise  in  it  a 
double  nature?  There  is  in  every  man  a  demoniacal  sub- 
conscious, forces  that  abase  as  well  as  others  that  elevate 
the  being.  The  attraction  which  draws  us  towards  intro- 
version may  be  at  once  a  divine  attraction  and  a  tempta- 
tion.   According  to  the  issue  which  the  introversion  is  going 


13  T6Te  6  'l7)(7ovi  dv-^x^V  «''*  ''"'?''  ^PVM'OV  virb  rod  -rrveifMaros.     (Matt,   iv,  I.) 
Kal  eCiOii  t6  Trvev/j-a  avrbv  ^/c^dXXet  els  ttjv  eprj/MV.      (Mark  i,  12.) 
Koi  ^yero  iv  t^  Trve^nari  iv  rr)  ip-^fx<f.     (Luke  iv,  I.) 


BAPTISM  AND  TEMPTATION  171 

to  have  it  may  be  a  flight  towards  life  or  a  recoil  towards 
the  shadowy  regions  of  death  and  destruction. 

3.  With  this  affirmation  come  to  be  united  the  two  sym- 
bols which,  in  the  fairy-tales,  myths  and  legends  of  all 
peoples,  represent  danger  and  the  victory  over  danger. 
Jesus  is  surrounded  by  wild  beasts;  these  are  the  dragons, 
the  serpents  which,  in  the  myth,  surround  the  hero,  ready 
to  devour  him,  and  bar  him  from  the  path  that  leads  to 
the  treasure  of  life.  He  must  conquer  this  wild  beast,  this 
guardian  of  the  treasure.  In  other  words,  he  must  kill  in 
himself  that  which  stands  in  the  way  of  the  new  birth,  the 
unfolding  of  the  new  life.  And  the  divine  forces  conspire 
with  the  hero  to  help  him  in  his  gigantic  task;  they  are  the 
envoys  of  God,  the  angels,  energies  of  a  superhuman  origin, 
but  personal  and  human  in  their  form,  fraternal  allies  who 
are  there  to  co-operate  in  the  work  of  life. 

So  much  for  the  broad  outline  of  the  situation.  It  is  that 
of  the  hero  who  is  preparing  to  live  the  true  life,  the  eternal 
romance  which  humanity  has  always  dreamed  of  and  pro- 
jected into  its  favourite  ancestors.  But  there  is  no  ques- 
tion here  of  romance  and  dreams;  the  part  is  going  to  be 
played  in  full  reality  by  the  Son  of  Man. 

I.  Let  us  now  take  up  the  temptations  in  detail.  The 
first  consists  of  changing  the  stones  into  bread.  Jesus  has 
been  fasting  for  a  long  time.  The  exterior  occasion  that 
sharpens  the  temptation,  that  turns  Christ's  thoughts  to- 
wards the  temptation,  is  the  hunger  he  feels.  But  this  is 
merely  the  reason  that  leads  him  to  consider  the  problem 
of  life  from  a  certain  angle.  It  must  always  be  remembered 
that  at  the  bottom  of  the  thoughts  of  Jesus  at  this  moment 
is  the  question,  "How  can  I  realise  the  life  of  revelation 
which  I  must  lead  before  men?  In  what  way  can  I  be  the 
Messiah?"  Thereupon  a  first  solution  suggests  itself,  thanks 
to  this  sudden  hunger  which  torments  him  and  which  he 


172  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

would  like  to  lessen  or  get  rid  of.  Has  he  the  right  to 
employ  the  divine  energies  which  he  feels  welling  up  within 
him  to  satisfy  first  his  own  life,  his  own  needs?  Why  not? 
After  all,  however  lofty  the  work  may  be  which  he  wishes 
to  undertake,  he  must  first  live  in  order  to  undertake  it; 
he  must  eat  his  bread,  have  something  upon  which  to  sub- 
sist, and  a  little  more  perhaps.  This  is  the  temptation  that 
comes  to  almost  all  intelligent  young  people  who  desire  to 
serve  God  in  their  life.  "Yes,  I  want  to  serve  God,  I  want 
to  devote  myself  to  this  or  that  noble  cause,"  they  say  to 
themselves.  "But  first  people  must  give  me  the  means  or 
I  must  procure  them!"  Make  a  fortune,  for  example,  so 
that,  later,  one  may  use  one's  money  to  relieve  suffering 
humanity.  Acquire  all  the  education  one  needs  to  become 
distinguished  so  that,  by  this  very  distinction,  one  may  win 
the  mastery  over  the  wills  of  men  and  conduct  them  as  a 
leader  along  the  paths  of  virtue  and  happiness.  Gratify, 
in  a  word,  one's  own  instincts  first,  which  are  nothing  if 
not  legitimate,  so  that  later,  freed  from  the  fetters  which 
necessity  always  lays  upon  the  impulses  of  the  heart,  one 
may  give  oneself  up  entirely  to  working  for  others.  In  the 
case  of  Jesus,  this  perhaps  signifies  that  in  order  to  become 
the  Messiah  recognised  by  the  people  he  must  first  acquire 
a  material,  outward  situation  that  will  attract  the  attention 
of  others. 

Christ  discerns  a  temptation  under  the  apparent  legiti- 
macy of  the  effort  which  is  demanded.  "Man  does  not  live 
by  bread  alone."  In  seeking  first  one's  own  personal  satis- 
faction in  the  will  to  power  that  animates  one,  in  placing 
the  inner  ilan  vital,  the  gift  of  the  forces  of  God,  first  of 
all  at  the  service  of  oneself,  one  simply  runs  the  risk  of 
spiritual  death.  This,  at  bottom,  is  the  temptation  to 
magic;  it  is  this  which  has  dominated  all  the  magicians  of 
the  past  and  of  the  present.    They  have  never  done  any- 


BAPTISM  AND  TEMPTATION  173 

thing  but  monopolise,  for  their  own  profit  first,  the  powers 
of  life  that  are  at  work  in  their  souls;  and  what  happens  is 
that  by  this  practice  their  souls  are  slowly  destroyed,  de- 
prived of  the  food  which  alone  nourishes  them.  They 
understand  the  inner  word  no  longer  as  the  word  of  God, 
but  as  an  instrument  of  which  they  make  use  for  their  own 
success.  It  is  an  error  to  suppose  that  one  can  first  satisfy 
oneself  at  the  fountain  that  springs  up  within  one  and  then 
think  afterwards  of  others.  When  one  has  made  bread  for 
oneself  out  of  the  stones  of  the  road  one  no  longer  thinks 
of  anything  but  that  bread.  The  soul  dies,  submerged  by 
action,  by  external  labour  for  the  sake  of  personal  gain. 
The  inner  energies,  turned  towards  outward  action  for  the 
benefit  of  the  individual  alone,  are  lost  for  society  and  the 
Kingdom  of  God.  This  is  the  case  with  many  a  life  which 
might  have  been  beautiful,  but  which,  in  all  sincerity,  can 
no  longer  do  anything  that  is  not  egotistical  and  useless  to 
others. 

By  becoming  a  magician  Messiah,  sl  worker  of  miracles, 
a  thaumaturgist,  Jesus  would  no  doubt  have  assured  his 
success  among  the  people.  But  the  forces  which  he  would 
have  employed  to  this  end  would  have  been,  by  that  very 
fact,  withdrawn  from  God,  turned  aside  from  the  moral  life, 
by  means  of  which  God  is  able  to  reach  men  and  touch  them. 
To  repulse  this  temptation  thus  constituted  a  renunciation, 
since  it  lessened  his  chances  for  success  in  the  Messiahship; 
but  it  was,  at  the  same  time,  a  divine  victory,  the  gift  to  the 
Father  of  his  whole  self,  the  conservation  of  the  integrity 
of  the  inner  energies  for  the  work  of  establishing  the  King- 
dom of  God.  In  refusing  a  magical  Messiahship  and  seeing 
a  temptation  in  it,  Jesus  set  bounds  to  his  success  in  the 
world,  but  he  recognised  the  true  rights  of  life;  he  refused 
to  displace  life's  axis,  to  violate  its  authentic  meaning.  If 
we  place  ourselves  at  the  psycho-analytic  point  of  view,  we 


174  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

may  say  that  the  danger  was  that,  in  concentrating  all  his 
strength  on  thought — in  his  case  fixed  upon  the  Messiah- 
ship — he  would  have  allowed  the  subconscious  feelings  to 
follow  their  own  will,  attaching  themselves  now  here,  now 
there,  now  upon  one  object,  now  upon  another,  at  the  mere 
chance  of  his  successive  impulses.  By  an  effort  of  his  whole 
being,  Jesus  became  aware  of  the  respective  values  of  the 
different  feelings  that  stirred  confusedly  in  him.  He  differ- 
entiated them  from  his  own  personality,  from  the  conscious 
I,  set  each  one  in  its  place,  and  discerned  the  temptation 
constituted  by  some  of  them  and  the  obligation  imposed  by 
the  others. 

II.  One  might  protract  these  considerations  indefinitely. 
Let  us  pass  on  to  the  second  temptation.  Jesus  is  trans- 
ported to  a  pinnacle  of  the  Temple  and  the  devil  says  to 
him:  "Cast  thyself  down:  for  it  is  written,  He  shall  give  his 
angels  charge  concerning  thee;  and  in  their  hands  they 
shall  bear  thee  up,  lest  at  any  time  thou  dash  thy  foot 
against  a  stone."  "  We  might  call  this  the  temptation  to 
fanaticism.  Jesus  is  tempted  to  commit  an  act  of  folly,  to 
throw  himself  madly  into  the  apocalyptic  dream,  to  become 
a  half-demented  Messiah  who  no  longer  lives  in  reality  or 
reckons  with  reality  but  commits  himself  to  the  forces  that 
exalt  him,  without  even  asking  how  they  accord  with  the 
surrounding  reality.  In  religious  language,  it  is  to  "tempt 
God"  to  ask  him  to  intervene  otherwise  than  by  the  laws 
which  he  has  himself  established,  to  violate  these  laws. 
This  is  to  transgress  deliberately  the  rules  that  preside  over 
the  normal  human  development,  and  consequently  to  choose, 
to  desire,  to  seek  the  abnormal.  It  is,  in  a  word,  to  take 
refuge  in  the  dream  in  order  to  escape  from  reality.  And 
this  is  exactly  what  the  victims  of  dementia  praecox  do. 
The  neurosis  of  this  name  consists  in  this  dream-life,  this 

1*  Quotation,  placed  in  the  mouth  of  Satan,  from  Psalm  xci,  11-12. 


BAPTISM  AND  TEMPTATION  175 

life  which — let  us  say  it  boldly — is  lost,  is  destroyed  in  the 
dream. 

This  is  the  road,  then,  of  which  Jesus  catches  a  glimpse, 
a  neurotic  Messiahs  hip,  the  career  of  those  fanatics  who 
sometimes  carry  away  whole  populations  with  the  gener- 
osity and  the  beauty  of  their  dream,  but  who  are  lost  with 
them  in  the  unreal.  Jesus  knows  quite  well  that  to  allow 
the  divine  forces  at  work  in  him  to  evaporate  thus  into 
nothingness  is  to  be  unfaithful  to  and  even  rebellious 
against  the  Father;  it  is  to  falsify  the  normal  means  which 
he  requires  in  order  that  he  may  work  in  him  and  through 
him  in  men. 

Here  we  have  another  renunciation,  an  unmistakable  one, 
the  renunciation  of  the  charm  of  exaltation  and  the  sugges- 
tive and  alluring  impression  that  exaltation  makes  on  the 
masses.  This  again  means  a  cutting  off  of  the  paths  to 
success;  but  it  means  also  the  inexorable  maintenance  of 
moral  and  physical  health  and  the  sanctity  of  life  as  well. 
Jesus  flies  from  the  seduction  of  the  dream  and  rejects 
that  species  of  Messiahship  which  would  make  of  him  a 
fanatic,  leading  humanity  into  a  brilliant  but  delusive  ad- 
venture. He  who  deliberately  puts  himself  outside  the  laws 
that  regulate  reality  has  no  right  to  the  help  of  the  living 
God;  he  abjures  life;  he  confuses  the  paths  of  the  soul;  he 
does  something  that  is  sinister  and  even  criminal.  This  is 
the  danger  we  all  run  when,  refusing  to  take  the  world  as 
it  is,  because  it  is  too  saddening,  we  prefer  to  see  it  through 
the  rose-coloured  glasses  of  an  enchanting  dream;  when 
we  let  go  of  the  reins  of  the  will,  persuading  ourselves  that 
we  may  commit  the  worst  follies,  and  that  God,  because  he 
loves  us,  will  always  intervene  at  the  desired  moment.  Who 
has  not  known  this  temptation,  and  who  has  not  at  times 
succumbed  to  it?  It  is  the  danger  of  imaginative  people 
who  are  wearied  and  bored  by  the  labour  of  reasoning.    It 


176  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

is  here  that  the  neurosis  lies  in  wait  for  its  man,  and  often 
strikes  him  down,  never  to  let  him  go  again.  Jesus  recov- 
ered control  of  himself  and  put  out  of  his  thoughts  this  form 
of  Messiahship. 

III.  Thus  we  come  to  the  last  of  the  three  temptations. 
At  first  sight  it  seems  to  be  the  clumsiest  of  snares;  yet  it  is 
in  fact  the  most  subtle  because,  in  the  concise  form  in  which 
it  is  brought  to  us,  it  does  not  appear  to  be  a  snare  at  all. 
This  is  the  temptation  to  false  mysticism,  diabolic  mysti- 
cism. It  is  possible  to  be  the  Messiah  again  by  preserving 
the  appearance  of  sanctity,  and  almost  sanctity  itself,  while 
consenting  to  compromise  with  the  spirit  of  the  age.  One 
may  simply  be  the  Messiah  whom  the  people  expect,  a  cau- 
tious, prudent  leader  who  will  act  in  harmony  with  the 
priestly  authorities  and  gradually  bring  about  a  national 
uprising  in  which  politics  will  ally  itself  with  the  religious 
sentiment.  Why  not?  Christ,  while  listening  to  the 
Pharisees,  has  seen  clearly  that  this  would  be  quite  prac- 
ticable; but  he  has  also  seen  under  what  conditions  alone 
it  would  be  possible  to  keep  up  the  alliance  and  achieve 
success.  He  would  have  to  make  concessions,  to  reckon 
with  the  opinions  of  leaders  and  people  of  importance,  to 
submit  to  easy  compromises  of  conscience.  In  short,  he 
would  have  to  bend  the  knee  before  the  evil  spirits  whom 
the  times  adored,  before  the  power  of  money  and  the  au- 
thority of  the  world.  In  return  for  a  few  concessions,  which 
would  hardly  matter,  thanks  to  the  power  which  he  knows 
exists  in  him,  he  would  then  be  the  Messiah,  recognised  by 
all;  and  when  he  possessed  the  ear  of  the  masses,  what 
things  could  he  not  undertake  on  behalf  of  the  good! 

This  is  the  temptation  of  all  strong  men  who  see  a  bril- 
liant career  opening  before  them,  who  feel  within  them- 
selves all  the  possibilities  of  becoming  great,  exercising  a 
powerful  influence  and  opening  up  paths  for  the  welfare 


BAPTISM  AND  TEMPTATION  177 

and  happiness  of  humanity.  And  how  many  sink  in  the 
mire  of  this  treacherous  swamp!  To  have  a  pure  and  lofty 
mind  and  altruistic  and  charitable  plans,  to  live  only  for 
the  sake  of  others;  yet,  in  order  that  one  may  be  able  to 
act,  to  consent  to  one  or  two  of  those  secret  compromises 
of  which,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  nobody  will  ever  know.  How 
many  careers,  respectable  and  honoured  by  men,  have  had 
no  spiritual  effect  because,  though  no  one  has  known  it,  they 
have  been  founded  on  that  momentary  prostration  before 
him  who  "gives  to  whomsoever  he  wills  all  the  kingdoms 
of  the  earth." 

Such  a  manner  as  this  of  becoming  the  Messiah  was  im- 
mediately rejected  by  Jesus  with  horror:  "Get  thee  hence, 
Satan:  for  it  is  written.  Thou  shalt  worship  the  Lord  thy 
God,  and  him  only  shalt  thou  serve."  ^^  And  why  does  he 
reject  it?  Can  we  say  that  in  doing  so  he  is  repressing 
certain  instinctive  tendencies  of  the  inmost  being?  It  is 
just  the  other  way.  To  admit  deceit  and  hypocrisy  is  not 
to  augment  the  possibilities  of  life;  it  is,  on  the  contrary, 
to  diminish  them.  It  is  because  the  world  in  general  coun- 
tenances this  fashion  of  living  a  double  life  that  men  are 
not  all  they  might  be  and  do  not  realise  themselves  in  a 
complete  way.  To  adore  Satan  is  to  deflect  into  paths  that 
lead  nowhere  a  part  of  the  elan  vital  which  ought  to  help 
one  to  embrace  life's  tasks  and  accomplish  them;  to  divert 
it  from  its  sole  legitimate  end,  to  prevent  its  sublimation. 
Now  Jesus  intends  to  be  fully  that  which  he  ought  to  be, 
to  lead  to  their  complete  realisation  all  the  energies  that 
seethe  in  the  depths  of  his  being,  to  become  fully,  in  the 
language  of  religion,  what  the  Father  wishes  him  to  become, 
or,  in  the  language  of  psycho-analysis,  to  sublimate  all  the 
instinctive  forces  that  labour  in  his  subconsciousness.  Thus 
the  obstacles  must  be  removed,  and  they  are  all  summed 

16  Matt,  iv,  10. 


178  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

up  and  incarnated  for  him  in  this  genius  of  evil  who  bears 
the  name  of  Satan:  ^'Get  thee  hence,  Satan!" 

After  the  three  temptations  which  we  have  just  recapitu- 
lated, there  remains  only  one  possible  issue  for  the  life  of 
Christ.  It  is  expressed  symbolically  in  the  text  by  these 
words:  "Then  the  devil  leaveth  him,  and  behold,  angels 
came  and  ministered  unto  him."  ^^  The  devil  who  departs 
is  the  inner  resistance  which  yields  to  the  pressure  of  the 
Man  vital;  the  angels  are  the  deep  energies  which  come  to 
the  rescue,  the  forces  of  sublimation  on  the  wings  of  which 
life  rises  to  meet  the  tasks  it  must  undertake.  Henceforth, 
there  is  for  him  only  one  way  of  living  his  public  life;  this 
is  to  realise  through  it  everything  that  God  has  placed  within 
him,  in  his  inner  and  secret  life,  the  whole  of  his  mystical 
life,  the  whole  of  the  experience  upon  which  his  soul  has 
been  nourished.  He  will  give  men  everything  he  has  within 
him,  and  nothing  else.  That  is  the  only  loyal  thing  to  do. 
Perhaps  this  is  what  it  is  to  be  the  Messiah?  In  any  case, 
Jesus  can  and  will  be  nothing  else.  And  it  is  in  this  frame 
of  mind  that  he  leaves  the  wilderness  to  begin  his  ministry 
in  Galilee. 

Henceforth,  the  task  is  clear.  God  does  not  manifest 
himself  through  acts  that  are  in  contradiction  to  the  deep 
life  of  the  soul.  The  only  way  to  reveal  him  to  the  world 
is,  having  him  fully  in  oneself,  to  be  simply  oneself,  what- 
ever may  be  one's  walk  of  life.  Jesus  is  going  to  say  what 
he  knows  and  what  he  is  inwardly;  he  is  going  to  render 
an  exact  testimony  to  what  he  realises  in  the  depths  of  his 
being.  His  life  will  probably  be  obscure,  without  any 
external  glory;  but  the  inner  harmony  which  has  now  been 
realised  among  all  the  forces  that  animate  him  will  con- 
stitute the  only  possible  appeal  to  human  morality,  to  the 
conscience  of  men.    This  is  the  sort  of  Messiah  that  he  will 

i«Cf.  Matt,  iv,  II ;  Mark  i,  13;  Luke  iv,  13. 


BAPTISM  AND  TEMPTATION  179 

be.  It  matters  little  whether  people  give  him  this  name  or 
not,  or  whether  he  is  the  Messiah  in  the  historical  and  tra- 
ditional sense;  he  is  to  be  a  Messiah  in  the  sense  of  moral 
truth  and  the  Spirit,  that  is  in  the  divine-human  sense. 

Let  us  stop  a  moment  on  the  threshold  of  this  ministry 
which  opens  in  humility  and  silence.  There  has  never  been, 
perhaps,  in  the  whole  history  of  humanity,  a  more  solemn, 
sacred  moment.  It  is  the  complete  gift  of  a  life  to  Truth. 
Without  pomp  of  any  sort,  it  is  at  once  the  perfect  conse- 
cration and  the  most  sublime  flight  towards  life  that  has 
ever  taken  place  in  this  world.  For  once,  all  the  forces  of 
a  human  consciousness  are  dedicated  to  life;  nothing  is 
withheld;  the  whole  divine  current  is  released  and  flows 
forward  in  its  entirety,  spreading  this  human  life  as  an  im- 
perishable witness  through  the  bosom  of  humanity.  When 
Jesus  said  later  that  he  was  "the  bread  of  life"  he  found  the 
exact  image.  He  offered  the  whole  of  himself  as  nourish- 
ment for  the  human  soul  that  is  starved  for  truth.  For  in  a 
world  such  as  ours  to  desire  the  whole  life  of  God  in  oneself, 
to  accept  all  the  exigencies  of  the  divine  life  in  oneself  and 
to  accomplish  its  task  is  to  accept  the  fate  of  being  misun- 
derstood, rejected,  sacrificed  by  those  who  do  not  desire  this 
life.  But  it  is  also  to  give  them  the  only  efficacious  help, 
the  only  raft  of  safety  to  which  they  can  cling. 

We  shall  take  up  this  point  again  when  we  treat  of  the 
personality  of  Jesus  and  its  characteristics  from  the  psy- 
chological point  of  view.  But  first  we  must  examine  a  little 
more  closely  into  the  nature  of  his  ministry,  and  particu- 
larly his  teaching. 


CHAPTER  IV 
THE  TEACHING  OF  JESUS 

§  I.     ITS   FORM 

After  the  Temptation,  Jesus,  in  the  power  of  the  Spirit, 
as  Luke  ^  tells  us,  set  off  on  the  road  to  Galilee.  After  hav- 
ing summoned  about  him  a  few  disciples  he  took  up  his 
abode  in  the  little  town  of  Capernaum,  not  far  from  the 
Sea  of  Galilee,  around  which  so  many  memories  cling;  and 
he  began  to  teach. 

In  this  teaching,  which  has  already  been  so  much — ^per- 
haps too  much — discussed,  for  it  often  seems  to  us  to  have 
been  deflowered  by  all  that  has  been  said  about  it,  there 
are  two  things  to  be  considered:  the  basis,  that  is  the  ideas, 
and  the  form,  or  the  manner  in  which  the  ideas  are  pre- 
sented. A  great  deal  might  be  said  about  these  two  aspects 
of  Christ's  teaching.  I  shall  take  up  a  few  points  only, 
with  special  attention  to  their  psychological  bearing;  and 
first  let  us  consider  the  form. 

Again,  of  this  form  I  shall  not  speak  in  detail.  Let  us 
ignore  what  might  be  called  the  very  original  charm  which 
is  so  unique  in  the  style  of  Jesus,  the  poetrj''  that  emanates 
from  his  least  words  and  that  has  made  of  some  of  them 
jewels  which  humanity  has  clasped  forever  in  the  depths  of 
its  memory  and  its  heart.^ 

I  should  rather  call  attention  to  a  certain  feature  of  the 
teaching  of  Jesus  which,  although  it  is  very  marked,  has  yet 
been  less  often  discussed.    This  is  the  affirmative  character 

^  "iv  TTJ  Swdfiei  ToO  irveiixaros"  (Luke  iv,  14.) 

2  See,  at  the  end  of  the  volume,  the  appendix  on  the  poetry  of  Jesus. 

i8o 


THE  TEACHING  OF  JESUS  i8i 

of  his  manner  of  teaching.  Instead  of  proceeding  by  pro- 
hibitions and  negative  commands,  he  proceeds  by  affirma- 
tions. It  seems  as  if  his  whole  nature  were  turned  to  the 
positive  side  of  life,  the  side  of  the  ''yea."  In  this  respect 
it  must  be  admitted  that  his  disciples  in  the  course  of  his- 
tory have  been  very  unfaithful  to  him.  When  we  think  of 
the  number  of  restrictions  and  prohibitions,  the  "thou  shalt 
nots" — thou  shalt  not  do,  thou  shalt  not  touch — when  we 
think  of  the  amount  of  neuropathic  scrupulosity  that  per- 
sists even  to-day,  in  some  Christian  circles,  we  feel  a  sort 
of  liberation  in  returning  to  the  teaching  of  Christ  himself 
and  finding  it  so  affirmative  and  so  positive.  It  is  just  the 
opposite  of  the  "taboos"  which  we  encounter  in  such  num- 
bers in  the  primitive  religions,  even  in  the  superior  religions, 
and  of  which  the  Old  Testament  offers  us  more  than  one 
example.  In  opposition  to  the  moral  code  of  the  Pharisees, 
which  was  encumbered  with  prohibitions  and  rendered  impo- 
tent by  inhibitions,  the  moral  code  of  Jesus  is  large,  affirm- 
ative in  the  face  of  life,  free  from  shackles.  He  dwells, 
we  observe,  not  on  what  one  must  not  do,  but  on  what  one 
must  do.  He  lays  stress  not  upon  negative  duties,  but  upon 
positive  duties,  knowing  quite  well  that  when  one  accom- 
plishes these  the  others  accomplish  themselves.  "All  things 
whatsoever  ye  would  that  men  should  do  to  you,"  he  says, 
"do  ye  even  so  to  them."  He  has  not  come  "to  destroy" 
(to  quote  his  own  words)  "but  to  fulfil."  And  it  is  at  this 
that  his  teaching  aims.  He  desires  to  bring  forth  in  hu- 
manity a  life  that  shall  not  be  a  perpetual  repression,  but 
rather  an  ever  larger  fulfilment  of  everything  which  exists 
in  man  and  asks  only  to  be  developed. 

Hence  that  luminousness,  that  broad  daylight  which 
shines  over  the  words  of  Jesus  and  gives  them  their  fresh, 
springlike  tonality,  that  character  of  newness  and  spon- 
taneity which  astonishes  all  who  hear  them  for  the  first 


i82  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

time.  We  have  the  impression  that  we  are  not  dealing  with 
old  rules,  with  the  everlasting  worn-out  expedients  with 
which  the  ancient  religions  have  wearied  the  human  con- 
science. There  is  something  here  tliat  is  new  and  young, 
something  which  takes  its  rhythm  from  life,  which  is  one 
with  the  rushing  current  and  the  glow  of  the  affirmations 
of  childhood.  This  is  why  Jesus  pleases  the  young,  that  is, 
if  they  encounter  his  teaching  directly  and  do  not,  as  is  too 
often  the  case,  find  it  deformed  to  the  point  of  being  un- 
recognisable by  the  preconceived  ideas  of  those  who  have 
made  themselves  its  champions  and  licensed  custodians. 

Listen  to  his  first  words.  From  the  beginning,  in  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount,  they  are  clear  and  joyous.  What  do 
they  announce?  Happiness.  They  are  an  affirmation  of 
happiness  cried  into  the  ears  of  those  who  no  longer  believe 
in  happiness  because  they  no  longer  feel  it  in  themselves: 

"Blessed  be  ye  poor:  for  yours  is  the  Kingdom  of  God. 

"Blessed  are  ye  that  hunger  now:  for  ye  shall  be  filled. 

"Blessed  are  ye  that  weep  now:  for  ye  shall  laugh. 

"Blessed  are  ye,  when  men  shall  hate  you,  and  when  they 
shall  separate  you  from  their  company,  and  shall  reproach 
you,  and  cast  out  your  name  as  evil,  for  the  Son  of  Man's 
sake.  Rejoice  ye  in  that  day  and  leap  for  joy:  for,  behold, 
your  reward  is  great  in  heaven."  ^ 

Upon  these  happy  people  who  need  only  to  become  aware 
of  their  inner  fortune  he  imposes  no  duty  made  up  of  re- 
strictions; he  does  not  point  out  to  them  what  they  are  not, 
or  the  obstacles  that  lie  before  them.  He  rather  tells  them 
what  they  are,  what  they  already  are  potentially  and  may 
become,  what  they  are  sure  to  become  with  an  always 
greater  fulness:  "Ye  are  the  salt  of  the  earth;  but  if  the 
salt  have  lost  its  savour,  wherewith  shall  it  be  salted?  .  .  . 
Ye  are  the  light  of  the  world.  .  .  .  Neither  do  men  light  a 

8  Luke  vi,  20-23. 


THE  TEACHING  OF  JESUS  183 

lamp,  and  put  it  under  the  bushel,  but  on  the  stand;  and  it 
shineth  unto  all  that  are  in  the  house."  *  This  is  a  launch- 
ing into  life.  Jesus  urges  them  into  the  open  water;  he  tells 
them  to  go  forward,  to  set  out,  to  have  no  fear,  to  yield  to 
the  divine  impulse  which  is  within  them. 

How  different  from  the  dull,  prudent  words  of  the  givers 
of  good  counsel,  the  moralising  sages.  The  point  here  is 
risk,  which  is  always  preferable  to  moral  indolence.  It  is 
a  sort  of  echo  of  the  ordeal  through  which  he  has  passed  in 
the  temptation.  Jesus  does  not  want  this  humanity  which 
he  loves  to  lose  itself  in  the  dream  of  life;  he  incites  it  to 
the  assault  of  reality  with  full  confidence  in  the  forces  which 
animate  it  and  which  are  the  very  forces  of  God. 

And  we  have  only  to  continue  the  reading  of  the  gospels 
to  see  that,  from  first  to  last,  the  same  note  rings  through 
them.  In  the  discussions  with  the  Pharisees,  particularly 
concerning  the  Sabbath,  he  does  not  oppose  their  rules  with 
other  rules.  He  affirms  (it  is  an  affirmation,  not  a  nega- 
tion) the  supremacy  of  life  over  everything  else.  "The 
Son  of  Man  is  Lord  also  of  the  Sabbath."  ^  Away  with  the 
restrictions  that  fetter  life!  Listen  to  the  voice  of  the  God 
who  speaks  within  you  and  everything  will  come  right. 

Sin  bends  the  brows  of  the  sick;  they  feel  themselves 
under  a  condemnation;  their  souls  are  bound  as  it  were  by 
that  old  doctrine  that  sickness  is  a  punishment  for  sin. 
Jesus  approaches  them  and  they  are  freed  by  an  affirma- 
tion: "Thy  sins  are  forgiven  thee."  And  finding  once  more 
within  them  the  spring  of  superhuman  energies,  the  sick 
depart  with  their  hearts  full  of  gratitude,  bearing  their 
crutches  on  their  shoulders. 

Everywhere,  always,  the  method  is  the  same.  Moved 
with  compassion  before  the  multitude,  because  they  are  in 

4  Matt.  V,  13-16. 

5  Mark  ii,  28. 


i84  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

a  state  of  weariness  and  prostration,  like  sheep  that  have 
no  shepherd,  he  cries:  "The  harvest  truly  is  plenteous,  but 
the  labourers  are  few.  Pray  ye  therefore  the  Lord  of  the 
harvest,  that  he  will  send  forth  labourers  into  his  harvest." 
Then,  having  summoned  the  twelve,  he  gives  them  "power 
against  unclean  spirits,  to  cast  them  out,  and  to  heal  all 
manner  of  sickness  and  all  manner  of  disease."  ® 

It  seems  here,  truly,  as  if  Jesus  were  a  psycho-analyst 
before  the  event.  His  is  the  same  method,  the  same  con- 
fidence in  the  work  of  life.  He  knew  that  what  destroyed 
life  was  the  obstacles  and  the  negations  with  which  the  false 
doctors  of  the  spirit  surround  it.  And  he  entered  upon  his 
ministry  as  a  liberator,  a  Saviour.  In  order  to  save,  he 
began  by  giving  people  confidence  in  Him  who  makes  life 
and  breathes  the  soul  into  it;  he  teaches  men  to  trust  the 
vital  urge  that  rises  in  them  all.  He  teaches  them  also,  or 
tries  to  teach  them,  what  God  is,  that  He  is  the  paternal 
presence 'which  all  may  feel  within  them  but  which  people 
do  not  recognise  because  they  misunderstand  it  or  because 
it  is  caught  fast  in  the  subconscious  layers  of  their  being 
and  not  permitted  to  come  forth  into  the  light. 

There  was  in  all  this  an  infinite  world  to  reveal.  Jesus 
had  mastered  it  and  he  was  full  of  the  joy  of  this  revela- 
tion. But  how  was  he  to  make  others  feel  it?  How  was 
he  to  communicate  this  ineffable  grace?  He  found  the 
secret  in  a  form  of  teaching  that  came  naturally  to  his  lips, 
the  parables. 

§  2 .     THE   PARABLES  '' 

It  is  in  this  form  of  expression,  at  once  old  and  new,  that 
Jesus  reveals  himself  as  an  altogether  unparalleled  master 

«Matt.  ix,  36;  X,  I. 

7  Cf.  Weinel,  H.,  Die  Gleichnisse  Jem.     Leipzig,  Teubner,  1905. 


THE  TEACHING  OF  JESUS  185 

of  psychology.  And  what  is  interesting  and  remarkable 
about  this  is  that  he  was  so  without  suspecting  it,  without 
desiring  it,  by  instinct  as  it  were..  He  had  no  intention  of 
creating  a  form;  hence  the  total  absence  of  any  air  of  delib- 
eration in  these  admirable  Httle  compositions  which  bear 
the  stamp  of  his  genius  and  which  are  found  nowhere  else 
with  the  same  characteristics  as  in  the  gospels.  Our  child- 
hood has  been  so  nourished  and  our  religious  thought  so 
shaped  by  them  that  we  are  not  perhaps  as  aware  as  we 
might  be  of  their  originality.  "It  is  in  the  parable  espe- 
cially," says  Renan,  "that  the  master  excels.  Nothing  in 
Judaism  had  given  him  the  model  for  this  delightful  form. 
He  was  the  creator  of  it.  It  is  true  that  we  find  in  the 
Buddhist  books  parables  that  are  exactly  the  same  in  tone 
and  composition  as  the  parables  in  the  gospels.  But  it  is 
difficult  to  suppose  that  any  Buddhist  influence  could  have 
been  exercised  upon  the  latter.  The  gentle  spirit  and  the 
deep  feeling  that  animate  nascent  Christianity  and  Bud- 
dhism equally  suffice  perhaps  to  explain  these  similarities."  ^ 

Renan  does  not  seem  to  us  to  go  deep  enough  here.  It 
is  obviously  difficult  to  explain  these  analogies  between 
Buddhism  and  Christianity  if  we  cling  to  historical  connec- 
tions. An  equal  "gentleness"  and  a  certain  "depth  of  feel- 
ing" common  to  both  religions  do  not  suffice  to  account  for 
them  either.  From  history  and  superficial  psychology  we 
must  pass  to  a  somewhat  more  profound  analysis  of  the 
psychic  states  common  to  humanity  in  general.  We  shall 
then  see  that  the  same  causes  produce  the  same  effects,  how- 
ever far  apart  in  space  and  time  the  two  human  groups  may 
be  and  however  complete  the  absence  of  relations  between 
them. 

One  of  the  most  appreciable  results  of  the  investigations 
of  psychology  has  been  precisely  to  make  us  feel  this  psychic 

8  Renan,  op.  cit.,  p.  174. 


i86  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

unity  of  the  human  race.  It  is  not  an  accident  that  the 
parable  should  have  been  born  in  two  religions  as  different 
as  Buddhism  and  Christianity.  We  have  in  this  an  illus- 
tration of  the  life  of  symbols  in  the  human  soul.  Every- 
where, at  all  times,  men  have  sought  to  express  by  means 
of  symbols  and  allegories  what  could  not  otherwise  be 
described  except  by  an  effort  of  abstract  thought,  which 
would  obscure  the  truth  instead  of  rendering  it  luminous. 

Before  thought  was  strong  enough  in  humanity  to  create 
a  philosophy,  later,  too,  after  this  philosophy  had  been 
established,  indeed  in  the  very  bosom  of  the  different  phi- 
losophies, the  creation  of  symbols  was  and  has  remained 
constantly  in  process.  As  early  as  among  the  primitive 
peoples  we  find  the  traces  and  sometimes  the  actual  features 
of  a  symbolism.  What  is  totemism  but  a  vast  system  of 
symbols,  representing  profound  psychic  realities?  Their 
meaning  is  sometimes  obliterated  in  the  memory  of  the 
savages;  sometimes  it  is  even  completely  forgotten  and  lost. 
But  a  secret  correspondence  continues  to  exist  between  the 
symbolical  ceremonies  and  the  baffled  soul  that  has  insti- 
tuted them,  just  as  it  exists  between  our  rites  of  to-day, 
the  Holy  Communion,  or  the  Eucharist,  for  example,  and 
many  simple  consciences  which,  without  grasping  their 
meaning,  find  something  in  them  nevertheless  and  tremble 
in  the  breath  of  the  mystery  that  is  hidden  in  them. 

To  the  question  why  this  life  of  symbols  propagates  itself 
and  endures,  an  answer  has  become  possible  since  the 
psycho-analysts  have  supplied  us  with  its  essential  elements. 
The  manifestations  of  the  deep  life  of  the  soul,  that  im- 
mense network  of  conscious  and  especially  unconscious  pro- 
ceedings of  which  the  human  psyche  is  the  theatre,  cannot 
express  themselves  outwardly  otherwise  than  under  the  form 
of  images.  The  most  important  psychic  processes  can  be 
represented  in  their  living  totality  only  by  means  of  sym- 


THE  TEACHING  OF  JESUS  187 

bols;  but  these  images,  these  symbols  borrowed  from  the 
surrounding  life,  are  limited  in  number.  It  is  inevitable 
that,  in  order  to  express  its  life,  the  human  spirit  should 
constantly  fall  back  upon  the  same  comparisons  and  re- 
discover the  same  associations  of  ideas. 

Hence  the  fact  that  in  all  races  and  at  all  epochs  we 
encounter  the  same  symbols  used  to  express  the  same  inner 
facts.  The  psycho-analysts  have  already  delimited  certain 
symbol-types  which  they  find  virtually  everywhere.  Among 
the  principal  of  these  we  may  mention  the  symbols  of  the 
father  and  the  mother,  the  dragon,  the  serpent,  the  lion  and 
the  wild  or  dangerous  animals  in  general;  that  of  the  box, 
or  of  the  basket  or  the  coffer;  that  of  the  seed,  of  the  bev- 
erage that  gives  life,  of  wheat. 

The  life  of  these  symbols  in  the  depths  of  the  human  soul 
is  very  complicated.^  They  become  charged  with  different 
meanings  as  the  inner  life  evolves;  they  do  not  always  sig- 
nify the  same  things.  Adopted  from  the  earliest  relations 
of  the  child  with  his  family  and  with  nature,  they  attend 
the  man  through  the  ever  more  crowded  and  more  widely 
ramifying  course  of  his  later  relations.  Expressions  of  the 
earthy,  primitive  life,  they  gradually  ascend  in  dignity;  the 
same  symbols  that  have  at  first  expressed  the  natural  and 
often  coarse  and  gross  relations  of  the  instinctive  being  with 
his  physical  surroundings,  come  to  be  charged  with  a  deli- 
cate moral  significance,  often  w^ith  an  import  that  is  very 
noble  and  all  but  the  opposite  of  the  sense  which  they  origi- 
nally possessed. 

Thus,  to  take  an  example,  the  mother,  who  symbolises  in 
certain  primitive  myths  the  object  of  desire,  the  object  to 
whom  one  looks  for  caresses,  whom  the  child  desires  quite 
to  himself,  who  is  sometimes  the  object  of  the  first  sexual 
desires,  the  mother  comes  to  symbolise  also  the  desire  for 

8  Cf .  above :   Introduc.  Chap.  II,  §2,  p.  42. 


i88  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

a  new  birth;  towards  her  the  child,  grown  to  manhood, 
turns  his  eyes,  as  if  in  the  hope  that  she  will  preside  for 
him  at  a  new  birth  which  will  be  entirely  pure  and  of  a 
nature  that  is  altogether  spiritual.  The  mother  becomes 
the  virght  mother  who  protects  the  life  of  the  spirit  and 
presides  over  its  development.  This  is  the  case  not  only 
in  the  Catholic  cult,  but  in  others  as  well. 

This  life  of  the  symbols,  with  their  variations  in  meaning 
for  those  who  desire  to  rise  in  the  moral  scale,  has  an  un- 
equalled importance  for  education.    In  learning  to  find,  to 
discover  the  ever  more  lofty  signification  of  the  symbols 
which  it  carries  in  itself  and  which  emerge  in  its  dreams,  its 
myths,  its  legends,  humanity  becomes  capable  of  progress- 
ing along  the  paths  which  life  itself  places  in  its  way;  it 
finds  its  path,  and  each  of  its  members  finds  the  path  which 
is  properly  his  own.    Where  every  sort  of  counsel  remains 
fruitless  because  it  is  out  of  gear  with  life,  because  it  re- 
mains external  to  the  person,  the  evocation  of  the  eternal 
and  universal  symbols  penetrates  most  deeply;  it  has  the 
effect  of  leaving  the  field  free  for  personal  interpretation, 
and  thus,  unlike  precise  commands  and  direct  counsels, 
runs  no  risk  of  violating  the  consciousness.     And  then  it 
opens  up  for  later  developments  a  horizon  still  more  vast. 
We  can  easily  understand,  then,  why  Jesus  chose  this 
mode  of  instruction.    He  reveals  here  his  exceptional  moral 
tact,  that  eminently  divine  gift  of  bringing  souls  to  birth, 
of  calling  out  the  life  that  throbs  in  them,  and  revealing 
them  to  themselves  with  a  respect  that  is  unknown  to  au- 
thoritarians who  bend  others  to  their  system. 

By  calling  out,  in  little  simple  stories,  taken  from  nature 
or  from  the  everyday  life  about  him,  the  whole  background 
of  the  psychic  life,  Jesus  had  discovered  the  only  means  of 
teaching  souls  to  free  themselves  from  their  inner  compli- 
cations and  meet  the  Father  in  the  most  secret  sanctuary 


THE  TEACHING  OF  JESUS  189 

of  their  private  experiences.  It  was  an  art  in  itself,  but  it 
had  been  discovered  without  the  resources  of  art,  through 
the  creative  intuition  of  a  personality  of  which  the  founda- 
tion was  a  radical  and  absolute  sincerity  towards  itself. 
Always  in  touch  with  his  own  innermost  life,  Jesus  had 
naturally  and  by  instinct  found  the  secret  of  reaching  that 
of  others.  The  parables  are  the  direct  fruit  of  this  in- 
genuous and  spontaneous  sincerity. 

There  are  some  theologians  who  maintain,  in  opposition 
to  Renan,  that  the  form  of  the  parables  was  borrowed  from 
the  teaching  of  the  rabbis,  Jesus  having  often  observed 
their  method  of  instruction.  On  a  superficial  consideration 
this  is  true.  The  rabbis  evidently  did  utter  parables;  but 
when  one  realises  how  great  was  their  spiritual  poverty  and 
how  little  they  were  able  to  draw  from  the  reality  that  sur- 
rounded them,  one  perceives  that  they  can  have  given  him 
nothing  but  the  bare  framework  and  scarcely  that. 

One  remark,  in  conclusion,  which  will  enable  us  to  pass 
from  the  form  of  the  teaching  of  Jesus  to  the  content.  As 
we  turn  over  the  gospels,  stopping  to  glance  at  the  various 
parables,  we  cannot  fail  to  be  struck  by  the  fact  that  most 
of  them  begin  with  these  words:  "The  kingdom  of  God  is 
like  unto  a  .  .  ."  ^°  There  are  a  few  exceptions,  for 
example  the  parable  of  the  sower,  or  that  of  the  prodigal 
son.  But  even  these,  when  we  consider  not  merely  the 
words  but  the  meaning,  have  the  same  object  as  the  others: 
to  cause  the  reality  and  the  significance  of  the  kingdom  to 
rise  before  the  eyes  of  the  listeners.  The  S)mibols  they 
make  use  of  and  the  allegories  they  employ  always  serve 
this  purpose.    Thus  the  seed,  the  springing  up  of  the  grain, 

1°  Even  if  this  stereotyped  formula  had  been  applied  to  all  the  parables 
by  the  redactors  of  the  gospels,  it  would  not  in  any  way  alter  the  bear- 
ing of  our  remark.  The  first  Christian  generation  had  felt  instinctively 
the  significance  of  the  parables  and  its  formula,  naively  generalised,  ex- 
pressed a  very  sure  and  very  just  sense  of  the  common  aim  of  all  the 
parables. 


igo  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

the  Father's  house,  the  wedding  chamber,  the  hidden 
treasure,  the  pearl  of  great  price,  the  net  that  gathers  the 
fish,  all  these  figures  endeavour  to  give  an  impression  of 
the  great  spiritual  reality  which  Jesus  is  striving  to  com- 
municate to  men  and  which  he  calls  the  Kingdom. 

§  3.     THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRIST's   TEACHING: 
THE   KINGDOM   AND   THE   MESSIAH 

The  preaching  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  or  the  King- 
dom of  God  was  thus  the  great  work  of  Jesus.  It  was  to 
this  that  he  dedicated  his  life.  His  only  concern  was  to 
reveal  to  men  what  the  Kingdom  of  God  was,  how  they 
could  enter  into  it  and  what  they  would  find  there.  It  was 
in  this  way  that  he  saw  his  messianic  mission.  The  phrase 
reappears  continually  in  his  sayings,  and  the  thing  itself  is 
constantly  in  his  thoughts. 

Now,  what  is  the  Kingdom  of  God?  The  theologians 
have  discussed  at  great  length  the  exact  meaning  to  be  at- 
tached to  the  phrase;  and  here,  as  elsewhere,  they  have 
armed  themselves  with  an  ever  growing  and  ever  more 
complex  historical  erudition  devoted  to  the  discovery  of  the 
origins  of  this  concept  of  the  "Kingdom"  in  the  times  that 
preceded  Jesus  and  the  works  that  he  might  have  read.  It 
is  obviously  undeniable  that  he  may  have  found  the  expres- 
sion in  earlier  writings  and  that  the  history  of  the  chosen 
people  may  have  furnished  him  with  many  of  the  features 
of  the  doctrine  of  the  Kingdom.  But  as  we  read  the  con- 
tradictory statements  of  the  theologians  themselves  and  the 
solutions  which  they  reach  we  cannot  escape  from  a  certain 
feeling  of  scepticism  as  to  the  historical  origins  of  this 
notion.  After  all,  the  best  thing  is  to  seek  for  the  light 
that  illumined  Jesus  not  in  the  past  but  in  his  own  psy- 
chology. 


THE  TEACHING  OF  JESUS  igi 

To  him  the  Kingdom  of  God,  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven, 
meant  the  reign  of  the  Father  established  in  the  heart 
and  on  earth,  that  is  to  say,  at  once  a  future  state  and  a 
present  state,  something  the  advent  of  which  has  already 
been  proclaimed,  but  which  has  not  yet  been  realised  in 
its  entirety,  since,  while  God  reigns  henceforth  over  the 
souls  that  have  accepted  Christ's  message,  he  does  not  reign 
over  all.  With  the  first  acts  of  the  Christians  the  earth 
begins  to  be  subject  to  him.  The  Kingdom  is  thus  a  psychic 
state  before  it  is  a  social  state;  it  is  the  psychic  state,  the 
spiritual  attitude  which  Jesus  realises  perfectly  in  himself 
and  which  he  desires  to  see  become  general,  knowing  as  he 
does  that  this  is  to  have  life,  and  to  have  it  abundantly. 
"Whosoever  drinketh  of  the  water  that  I  shall  give  him 
shall  never  thirst;  but  the  water  that  I  shall  give  him  shall 
be  in  him  a  well  of  water  springing  up  into  everlasting 
life." "     ' 

But  then,  if  this  is  the  Kingdom,  we  are  again  brought 
back  to  the  central  experience  of  Christ,  that  mystical  expe- 
rience which  he  expresses  when  he  says  "the  Father."  The 
Kingdom  is  the  Father,  as  Jesus  conceives  him,  feels  him, 
realises  him;  it  is  this  Father  received,  obeyed,  served  at 
every  moment  by  men.  Ever3^hing  in  the  Gospel  brings 
us  back  to  this  essential  point;  and  this  point  is  the  centre 
of  the  inner  experience  of  Christ.  The  new  life  which  he 
reveals  to  the  world  is  the  Father  grasped  as  he  has  grasped 
him.  The  salvation  which  he  brings  to  the  v/orld  is  the 
Father  known  as  he  knows  him.  The  love  which  he  de- 
mands for  men  is  the  Father  served  as  he  serves  him.  This 
experience  of  the  Father,  however,  rich,  abundant,  broad 
as  life,  sovereign  and  full  of  solemn  power,  cannot  be 
grasped  by  reason,  cannot  be  communicated  by  thought. 
It  must  be  awakened  in  the  hearts  of  men  by  a  purely 

^1  John  iv,  14. 


192  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

spiritual  contact,  and  words  do  not  suffice  for  it.  That  is 
why,  in  his  teaching,  Jesus  did  not  give  the  people  ideas  or 
doctrines,  in  spite  of  what  the  Church  has  said;  he  gave 
them  images,  symbols,  evocations  tending  to  set  in  motion 
the  powers  of  the  soul.  This  was  the  particular  point 
towards  which  his  effort  bore.  He  wished  to  render  God 
sensible  to  the  heart.  He  wished  to  arouse  and  foster  in 
human  individuals  the  glow  of  the  divine  energies  and  at 
the  same  time  to  free  the  paths  of  the  soul  from  the  ob- 
stacles, the  repressions  which  constrain  life  and  stifle  it. 
He  wished  to  make  men  feel  this  Father  who  is  in  heaven 
but  who  is  at  the  same  time  on  earth,  so  that  Gdd  should 
no  longer  be  regarded  as  a  far-away  monarch,  but  as  the 
closest  of  the  loving  beings  who  surround  us. 

To  sum  up,  we  may  say  then  that  at  the  centre  of  the 
teaching  of  Jesus  Christ  is  the  teaching  of  the  Kingdom, 
and  that  at  the  centre  of  the  teaching  of  the  Kingdom  is 
the  personal  experience  of  Christ  himself,  imposed  upon  him 
as  supreme,  decisive,  and  dominant  with  respect  not  only 
to  his  own  development,  but  also  to  that  of  the  world.  This 
experience  of  the  Father,  the  inner,  personal  God  who  is 
also  the  creative  and  sovereign  God,  He  who  reveals  him- 
self to  the  world  and  whom  the  world  seeks  in  vain  to 
understand — this  experience  is  in  a  way  unique  with  Jesus. 
We  find  it  in  no  other  man  invested  with  such  sovereignty 
or  such  absoluteness,  especially  with  such  an  indisputable 
clearness.  If  we  must  have  a  miracle  we  shall  find  it  here, 
in  the  supernatural  evidence  and  the  absolute  and  imperious 
clearness  which  this  central  experience  of  the  Father  pre- 
sents in  the  case  of  Jesus.  It  is  this  that  lies  at  the  base 
of  everything  he  is  led  to  say;  and  in  all  his  sayings  it  is 
this  which  he  seeks  to  reveal  to  men  in  the  only  manner  that 
is  possible,  that  is,  not  by  explaining  it  but  by  striving  to 
arouse  it  in  others. 


THE  TEACHING  OF  JESUS  193 

The  same  thing  is  true  of  the  idea  and  the  concept  of  the 
Messiah.  Jesus  felt  that  he  was  the  Messiah  more  and 
more,  and  in  a  manner  he  applied  himself  to  playing  the 
part.  He  became  aware  of  his  Messiahship  first  and  fore- 
most through  the  experience  which  he  had  of  the  unique 
originality  of  his  feeling  for  the  Father.  He  felt  that  he 
was  unique  in  having  seen  God  as  he  had  seen  him,  in  the 
spontaneous  glow,  in  the  urge  of  the  inner  life  that  consti- 
tuted the  essence  and  the  principle  of  his  personality.  The 
abyss  which,  in  this  respect,  separated  him  from  other  men 
seemed  to  him  not  a  reason  for  doubt  but  an  indication  of 
a  unique  vocation.  He  was,  more  than  any  one  else,  the 
Son  of  Man,  Man  par  excellence,  because,  more  strongly 
than  any  other,  he  felt  his  divine  sonship.  This  Father  who 
stirs  within  him  in  so  incontestable  a  way  has  given  him 
a  mission:  that  of  making  his  kingdom  come.  Jesus  must 
therefore  assume  the  unique  and  central  place  in  the  king- 
dom; he  is,  through  his  own  personality,  the  secret  and  the 
meaning  of  the  Kingdom.  It  is  by  giving  himself  to  others, 
by  confiding  to  them  the  mystery  of  his  most  intimate 
psychic  life  that  he  will  save  them.  That  is  why,  without 
pride,  in  the  most  sincere  humility,  he  preaches,  in  a  certain 
sense,  himself;  he  draws  men  to  him,  he  wills  them  to  him, 
he  entreats  them  to  come  to  him.  "Come  unto  me  all  ye 
that  labour  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest. 
.  .  .  For  my  yoke  is  easy,  and  my  burden  is  light.  ...  I 
am  meek  and  lowly  in  heart,"  etc.,  etc.^" 

The  Kingdom  and  the  Messiah,  these  two  great  pivots  of 
Christ's  teaching  are,  therefore,  in  their  original  germ,  two 
psychic  experiences  of  Jesus.  First,  that  this  God,  the 
Father,  who  manifests  himself  in  the  vital  impulse  which  is 
at  the  centre  of  the  personality,  must  reign.  Then  the  other, 
which  is  only  a  prolongation  of  the  first:  the  Father  must 

12  Matt,  xi,  28-30. 


194  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

reign  everywhere  and  in  all  men,  in  men's  consciences  and 
in  the  world^  as  he  reigns  in  me.  Here  we  have  what  might 
be  called  the  moral  obligation  of  Christ,  the  imperative  duty 
which  gives  to  his  life  its  only  possible  meaning. 

Now  any  such  attempt  thus  to  trace  back  to  the  personal 
experience  of  Christ  the  whole  Christian  doctrine  is  certain 
to  be  met  with  objections.  And  I  clearly  foresee  what  is 
going  to  be  said,  and  reasonably  said,  against  it.  I  shall 
be  asked:  "But  what  do  you  make  of  those  discourses  at 
the  end  of  his  career  in  which  there  seems  to  be  suggested 
the  millennial  hope  of  a  reign  of  the  Messiah  upon  earth? 
What  do  you  make  of  the  parables  at  the  end  of  the  gos- 
pels, in  which  the  reign  of  the  Messiah  is  described  in  apoca- 
lyptic colours  and  with  terrestrial  and  not  merely  spiritual 
expectations?  How  can  you  reconcile,  for  example,  the  de- 
tails of  Chapter  XXIV  of  Matthew  with  the  purely  spiritual 
experience  of  which  you  speak? 

Here,  indeed,  the  Kingdom  of  God  does  appear  as  a  sort 
of  social  and  material,  as  well  as  a  spiritual,  revolution.  We 
have  the  sign  of  the  Son  of  Man  rending  the  heavens  from 
east  to  west;  the  sun  is  darkened,  the  moon  does  not  give 
her  light,  the  stars  fall  from  the  sky.  They  that  are  on  the 
house-tops  will  not  have  time  to  come  down.  Woe  unto 
them  that  are  with  child  in  that  day,  for  they  shall  not  be 
able  to  flee!  People  may  well  pray  that  this  great  day  does 
not  come  in  the  winter.  .  .  .  Then,  to  the  sound  of  the 
trumpet,  the  angels  will  gather  together  the  elect  from  the 
four  winds  for  the  judgment.  This  judgment  will  consist 
of  a  separation  of  the  good  from  the  bad  into  two  sharply 
defined  groups  (the  parable  of  the  sheep  and  the  goats)  of 
which  the  one  will  sit  down  to  a  feast  presided  over  by 
Abraham  and  the  patriarchs,  and  the  other  will  go  dov/n 
into  Gehenna,  "where  the  fire  is  not  quenched."  The  place 
of  delights  is  separated  from  the  place  of  torments  by  so 


THE  TEACHING  OF  JESUS  195 

great  an  abyss  that  it  is  impossible  to  pass  from  the  one  to 
the  other  (the  parable  of  the  wicked  rich  man  and  Lazarus). 

All  these  features,  it  must  be  confessed,  are  singularly 
material  in  character  and  scarcely  harmonise  with  the  con- 
ception we  were  defending  a  moment  ago.  And  indeed  it 
is  true  that  in  reading  the  gospels  we  are  often  arrested, 
surprised  and  even  a  little  shocked.  How  can  we  reconcile 
all  these  things  with  the  image  which  we  have  formed  of 
Jesus,  the  spiritual  Saviour  insisting,  before  everything  else, 
upon  the  inner  life? 

Here  we  are  obliged  to  take  contingencies  into  account 
and  remember  that  Jesus  came  among  men  as  a  man,  and 
with  no  other  title.  He  sprang  from  a  human  lineage;  he 
felt  the  weight  of  human  contingencies.  His  soul  did  not 
develop  differently  from  ours,  and  he  received  consequently 
the  stamp  of  his  people  and  his  environment.  His  religious 
experience,  his  whole  inner  life  was  necessarily  intellec- 
tualised  according  to  the  moulds  that  were  furnished  him 
by  the  times  and  the  environment.  He  did  not  introduce, 
it  was  not  his  mission  to  introduce,  new  ideas;  what  he 
brought  was  a  new  life,  which  is  a  very  different  matter. 

Now  the  effort  of  life,  it  is  to  be  remarked,  does  not  con- 
sist in  breaking  away  from  everything  that  the  race  and 
the  times  have  slowly  elaborated.  To  attempt  this  would 
be  to  end  in  madness  or  to  escape  into  egotistical  and 
destructive  dreams,  and  Jesus  had  put  this  temptation  from 
him.  The  only  effort  of  life  that  succeeds  is  one  that  avails 
itself,  on  the  contrary,  of  everything  which  the  race  and  the 
times  constitute  in  order  to  benefit  people  spiritually  and 
lift  to  a  higher  level  what  people  feel  that  they  possess  in 
themselves. 

The  experience  of  the  Kingdom,  that  of  the  Father,  the 
feeling  of  the  unique  place  which  he  occupied,  this  inner 
movement,  this  psychic  elan,  this  spiritual  urge  had  to  be 


196  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

translated  into  intellectual  terms,  condensed  into  thoughts, 
into  words  and  images,  as  much  in  the  case  of  Jesus  as  in 
our  own  case.  Life  must  always  be  translated  in  order  to 
be  expressed;  that  is  a  law  inherent  in  our  human  condition, 
and  it  always  translates  itself  in  terms  of  the  characteristics 
and  the  images  of  the  time  in  vv^hich  we  live. 

What  we  find  here,  then,  is  the  intervention  of  the  influ- 
ence and  the  properties  of  the  Jewish  environment  in  which 
Jesus  lived  and  the  epoch  in  which  he  developed.  The 
environment  and  the  epoch  furnished  him  with  two  intel- 
lectual frames  or  moulds,  apocalyptic  messianism  and  the 
Judaic  eschatology. 

When  Jesus  reached  the  conviction  that  the  reign  of  God 
was  approaching,  that  it  was  being  inaugurated  in  himself, 
that  the  Father  spoke  through  him  in  an  exceptional  man- 
ner, we  must  not  imagine,  as  we  are  so  prone  to  do,  that  his 
brain  and  his  imagination  vi^ere  em^pty  of  all  ideas,  that  they 
were  like  a  blank  page  on  which  he  had  only  to  trace  en- 
tirely new  characters.  He  was  just  like  one  of  ourselves 
when,  in  the  midst  of  life,  we  become  conscious  of  a  new 
spiritual  revelation.  The  latter  does  not  suppress  at  a 
stroke  the  whole  stock  of  ideas  by  which  we  have  lived 
hitherto  and  which  has  been  slowly  elaborated  in  us  as  a 
result  of  the  environment  in  which  we  have  dwelt  since 
childhood.  To  Jesus  the  words:  the  Kingdom  of  God,  the 
Messiah,  were  not  new  words.  They  had  acquired  in  the 
Jewish  mind  a  very  precise  meaning;  they  were  accom- 
panied by  a  throng  of  mental  pictures  that  were,  so  to  speak, 
inseparable  from  them.  When  Jesus,  following  the  clear 
line  of  his  inner  experiences,  reached  the  point  of  saying  to 
himself:  "I  myself  am  the  Messiah,"  or  "the  Kingdom  of 
God  has  begun  in  me,"  there  immediately  appeared  before 
him  all  the  images  evoked  by  these  two  concepts  in  a  Jewish 
brain  of  the  time.    Adm.itting  that  he  rejected  some  of  them 


THE  TEACHING  OF  JESUS  197 

as  incompatible  with  his  personal  experience,  others  must 
have  remained.  According  to  the  moment,  one  or  another 
of  them  would  appear. 

And  the  problem  is  more  complicated  even  than  this,  for 
we  must  bear  in  mind  here  not  merely  the  thought  of  Jesus, 
but  also  that  of  his  contemporaries  who  heard  these  words, 
the  first  Christian  generation  that  received  them  and  put 
them  on  paper.  These  people  were  Jews  also,  familiar  with 
the  Jewish  eschatology,  imbued  with  the  apocalyptic  ideas 
of  the  times  concerning  the  Messiah,  and  some  of  them  were 
eager  to  show  that  their  Master  had  fully  realised  the  mes- 
sianic expectations  of  the  people.  In  the  accounts  that  have 
come  down  to  us,  we  have  thus  not  only  to  distinguish  be- 
tween that  which  comes  from  Jesus  and  that  which  comes 
from  his  disciples,  but  to  perceive  that  sometimes  a  saying 
whose  meaning  is  purely  spiritual  has  been  deformed  and 
altered  owing  to  the  incomprehension  of  people  who  were 
imbued  with  the  apocalyptic  messianism. 

We  see  how  difficult  it  is,  even  when  we  hold  to  the  very 
letter  of  the  gospels,  to  form  an  exact  idea  of  what  Jesus 
expected.  Was  the  Kingdom  of  God  to  come  suddenly,  like 
a  catastrophe,  or  was  it  to  develop  slowly,  like  a  germina- 
tion? Was  the  Messiah  to  return  in  triumph  before  this 
generation  had  passed,  or  was  he  not  to  appear  till  the  end 
of  the  world,  at  some  indeterminate  time  of  which  he  him- 
self was  unaware?  Would  he  have  to  wait  for  outward 
signs  that  would  announce  this  moment,  or  would  there  be 
a  dazzling  revelation  of  a  purely  spiritual  order?  Such  are 
the  many  questions,  the  many  problems  which  the  theo- 
logians settle  according  to  their  preferences. 

The  vagueness,  the  fluctuating  and  uncertain  character 
of  the  doctrine  of  the  Kingdom  have  been  the  despair  of 
many.  For  us  all  this  is  an  element  of  strength.  It  cor- 
roborates what  we  have  just  said.    As  long  as  it  is  a  ques- 


198  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

tion  of  a  living  experience,  the  Kingdom  of  God  is  a  per- 
fectly simple  matter;  it  is  when  we  draw  away  from  the 
inner  experience  and  enter  the  domain  of  possible  material 
realisations  that  the  idea  becomes  indeterminate  and  sub- 
ject to  diverse  interpretations.  It  appears  indeed  as  if 
Christ  took  every  possible  pains  to  avoid  giving  distinct 
material  features  to  the  certitudes  of  the  moral  order  which 
he  held  in  this  connection.  There  is  no  doubt  that  when  he 
spoke  of  the  future  he  followed  the  broad  lines  furnished 
him  by  the  admitted  beliefs  of  his  generation  on  the  subject 
of  the  Messiah  and  the  Kingdom  of  God,  applying  to  them 
undoubtedly  at  the  same  time  the  corrections  which  the 
character  of  his  personal  experience  had  rendered  necessary 
for  him.  But  we  see  by  the  manner  in  which  these  final 
things  are  presented  how  little  understood  he  was,  how 
readily  people  confounded  what  related  to  the  end  of  Jeru- 
salem with  what  related  to  the  end  of  the  world,  and  how 
often  what  was  only  a  symbol  or  an  image  was  taken  for 
an  exact,  prophetic  description. 

Renan  himself  seems  to  believe  that  Jesus  accepted  all 
the  apocalyptic  beliefs  quite  uncritically,  that  he  expected 
a  heaven  where  there  would  be  a  new  table  and  a  new  wine 
and  a  new  Passover  in  the  material  sense  of  all  these 
words."  But  this  is  not  serious.  Plainly,  considering  the 
actual  state  of  the  texts,  it  is  very  difficult  to  know  exactly 
what  Jesus  said;  we  can,  however,  with  a  little  intelligent 
insight,  discern  that  what  was  important  for  him  was  not 
the  material  description  of  the  Kingdom  but  its  moral 
reality.  The  manner  in  which  he  represented  it  to  himself 
bore  no  doubt  the  stamp  of  the  Jewish  ideas;  but  his  trust 
in  life  and  in  Him  who  makes  Hfe  went  far  beyond  these 
representations  and  he  troubled  himself  very  little  about 
any  contradictions  which  they  might  occasionally  have  pre- 

13  Renan,  op.  cit.,  pp.  290,  291. 


THE  TEACHING  OF  JESUS  199 

sented.  Beneath  the  apocalyptic  messianism  and  the  tra- 
ditional eschatology,  the  living  experience  remained  the 
capital  thing.  It  is  this  which  has  endured  and  upon  which 
we  seize  eagerly  to-day.  The  Jewish  cc  lours  have  faded 
out;  but  the  Kingdom  of  God  remains  as  a  reality  of  to-day, 
to-morrow,  and  the  eternal  future,  as  a  state  of  the  soul  that 
is  realised  and  propagated  through  communion  with  him 
who  first  realised  it,  a  state  of  the  soul  that  will  become 
general  some  day  in  a  transformed  and  regenerated  hu- 
manity. We  no  longer  feel  the  need  of  casting  this  King- 
dom in  precise  material  and  temporal  forms.  It  suffices 
for  us  to  conceive  it  on  the  prolonged  lines  of  an  experience 
that  has  already  been  lived.^* 

1*  Some  theologians  seem  to  take  it  for  granted  that  Jesus  made  use 
of  concepts  as  clear-cut  and  ideas  as  accurately  shaped  and  arranged 
as  those  which  they  themselves,  after  a  minute  scrutiny  of  the  gospels 
and  the  apocalypses,  have  thought  it  necessary  to  form  concerning  the 
Kingdom  of  God  and  the  apocalyptic  events.  In  this,  however,  they 
distort  the  facts,  lose  connection  with  life  and  make  out  of  a  great 
adventure  of  the  open  air,  of  sun  and  storm,  a  labour  of  the  study,  an 
anaemic  creation  of  myopic  ideologues. 

It  is  true  that  Jesus  made  use  of  the  stereotyped  symbols  with  which 
the  epoch  and  the  environment  provided  him ;  he  could  no  more  help 
using  them  than  we  can  help  using  our  native  tongue  to  express  what 
seethes  within  ourselves.  But  life  overflowed  the  frame  on  every  side, 
experience  brimmed  over  the  vessel  that  contained  it.  When  Jesus 
spoke  of  "the  Kingdom  of  God"  he  made  use,  I  am  well  aware,  of  a 
current  expression  that  was  clearly  defined;  just  as  a  new  convert,  still 
immensely  moved  by  the  living  contact  of  his  Saviour,  makes  use,  when 
he  says  "Jesus  Christ,"  of  a  perfectly  definite  expression  which  is  apt 
to  call  up  to  the  minds  of  his  colder  auditors  nothing  but  a  rigid  and 
inert  historical  image.  For  this  neophyte  there  is,  beneath  the  ex- 
pression "Jesiis,"  a  whole  world,  a  whole  life  which  is  not  so  much  as 
dreamed  of  by  his  cold  listeners  who  believe  that  they  perfectly  under- 
stand what  he  is  expressing.  It  is  the  same  way  with  the  theologians 
face  to  face  with  the  eschatology  and  the  apocalyptic  aspect  of  Jesus. 
They  have  defined  the  exact  historic  meaning  of  the  words  they  em- 
ploy, and  accordingly  imagine  that  they  have  understood  them.  But 
the  unhappy  souls  have  forgotten  the  palpitating  personality  which 
vibrates  behind  these  current  images,  and  which  has  made  use  of  them 
simply  because  they  are  the  only  coins  in  circulation  and  because  they 
enable  it  to  distribute  through  the  heart  of  humanity  the  treasure,  the 
moral  and  religious  capital,  which  it  conveys.  The  whole  work  of 
theology  should  be  done  over  again  with  this  fact  in  mind.  We  have 
accomplished  nothing  if,  in  defining  the  meaning  of  a  word  or  the 
import   of   a   concept   that   have   been   employed    by    a   living,   ardent, 


200  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

Thus,  in  its  essence  and  in  its  form,  the  teaching  of  Jesus 
has,  as  its  original  source,  the  very  nature  of  his  own  per- 
sonality. It  is  to  this  mystery  that  we  are  always  and  in- 
evitably led  back  when  we  study  his  teaching.  The  essen- 
tial problem  is,  therefore,  a  psychological  problem.  It  is 
the  psychology  of  Christ  that  will  deliver  up  to  us,  the  more 
we  study  it,  the  secret  of  his  teaching;  it  is  his  personality 
which,  in  the  last  analysis,  gives  us  the  key  to  what  people 
have  called  the  evangelical  doctrine  of  the  Kingdom.  Con- 
sequently, we  must  grip  this  problem  a  little  more  closely 
and  try  to  understand  what  made  Jesus,  from  the  psycho- 
logical point  of  view,  a  unique  personality.  But  first  it 
remains  to  us  to  consider  one  final  aspect  of  his  public  min- 
istry and  his  activity.    I  mean  the  Miracles. 

mystical  soul,  we  have  seen  in  them  merely  what  others  than  himself 
have  put  there.  It  is  the  very  work  of  creative  personalities  to  play 
the  midwife  to  old  formulas  and  give  to  the  world  the  new-born  child 
which  they  carry  in  their  womb.  Jesus  spoke  the  eschatological  and 
apocalyptical  language  of  the  Jews ;  but  beneath  the  images,  beneath 
the  ancient  symbolism,  he  inaugurated  a  new  creation  of  the  Spirit  the 
meaning  of  which  does  not  reveal  itself  through  history  or  exegesis, 
but  through  psychology  alone. 


CHAPTER  V 
THE  MIRACLES 

If  we  are  to  believe  the  gospels,  it  is  incontestable  that 
Jesus  performed  many  miracles  and  that  miracles  played 
an  important  part  in  his  career.  The  gospel  of  Mark  is 
a  tissue  of  them;  that  of  John  reports  several  that  are  even 
more  notable  than  the  others.  Under  this  term  are  included, 
however,  very  different  things:  on  the  one  hand,  cures  of 
the  sick  (comprising  the  greater  number  of  the  miracles), 
on  the  other,  marvellous  acts,  belonging  to  quite  a  different 
category,  such  as  the  miraculous  draught  of  fishes,  the 
calming  of  the  tempest,  the  walking  on  the  waves,  the  mul- 
tiplication of  the  loaves,  the  raising  of  the  dead,  etc.,  and 
finally  events  of  which  the  meaning  and  import  are  not 
clearly  explained,  such,  for  example,  as  the  changing  of 
the  water  into  wine  at  the  marriage  in  Cana  and  the  cursing 
of  the  sterile  fig-tree  which  withers  at  the  word  of  the 
Master. 

A  first  mistake  which  people  have  made  and  against 
which  we  must  be  on  our  guard  as  we  take  up  the  study 
of  the  miracles,  is  to  consider  them  as  violations  of  the 
natural  order.  The  word  "miracle"  has  come  to  have  as 
its  chief  meaning  one  which  it  did  not  possess  at  all  for 
the  contemporaries  of  Jesus,  and  this  for  a  very  simple 
reason:  at  that  epoch  and  in  the  Jewish  environment  people 
had  no  idea  of  what  is  for  us  to-day  the  merest  common- 
place, a  knowledge,  namely,  of  the  natural  laws  and  their 
inviolable  order.  We  are  born,  so  to  speak,  with  this  idea; 
it  is  imposed  upon  us  from  the  very  moment  when  we 
begin  to  reflect;  our  modern  culture  is  impregnated  with 
it.     This  was  by  no  means  the  case  in  antiquity.     With 

201 


202  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

the  exception  of  the  great  scientiRc  schools  of  Greece  and 
their  Roman  disciples,  the  whole  world  lived  in  a  state  of 
bewilderment  as  to  the  natural  and  the  supernatural  order. 
The  men  of  those  days  were  as  ignorant  as  children  of 
any  fixed  sequence  of  causes  and  effects;  they  lived,  as 
it  were,  as  children  live,  amid  perpetual  miracles.  We  have 
all  of  us  passed  more  or  less  through  this  stage  and  we 
understand  it  through  memory.  To  become  conscious  of 
it  we  have  only  to  recall  the  impressions  of  our  childhood, 
that  happy  age  when  it  would  not  have  struck  us  as  more 
extraordinary  to  see  the  heavens  open  and  God  himself 
descend  from  them  than  to  see  a  thunderbolt  strike  one 
of  the  trees  in  the  garden.  The  sudden  realisation  of  one 
of  these  events  would  not  have  seemed  to  us  more  re- 
markable than  that  of  the  other. 

For  Jesus  and  the  men  of  his  time  and  country,  the 
miraculous  did  not  represent,  therefore,  any  violation  of 
the  laws  of  nature.  For  them  there  were  no  laws;  there 
were  only  occurrences  and  persons  whose  operations  or 
whose  activities  seemed  more  miraculous  at  certain  times 
than  at  others  and  bore  witness  to  the  intervention  of  God 
or  of  devils  in  human  affairs.  There  was  nothing  to  pre- 
vent a  miracle  from  taking  place,  A  miracle  was  simply 
an  exceptionally  marked  sign  of  the  presence  of  the  divine 
or  demoniacal  forces  which  were  continually  at  work  in 
the  natural  world.  Everything  that  was  inexplicable  seemed 
miraculous;  and  people  did  not  feel  the  need  that  besets 
us  to-day  of  explaining  things  scientifically,  that  is  of  con- 
necting them  with  antecedents  of  the  natural  order  rather 
than  with  some  supernatural  cause.  The  difference  between 
the  supernatural  and  the  natural  was  scarcely  felt  or  not 
felt  at  all.' 


1  We  may  note  this  facility  in  accepting  the  miraculous  in  th 
of  the  time.     For  example,  Josephus    (38-100  A.D.)    accepts 


le  writers 


THE  MIRACLES  203 

In  approaching  the  study  of  the  miracles,  then,  we  must 
bear  in  mind  this  difference  in  mentality  between  ourselves 
and  the  men  of  the  age  of  Jesus. 

A  second  point,  which  we  must  also  bear  in  mind,  and 
which  is  a  consequence  of  this  mentality,  is  that  at  that 
time  people  expected  miracles  of  every  hero,  especially  of 
every  founder  of  a  religion.  It  was  quite  natural,  they 
thought,  that  an  exceptional  man  should  manifest  himself 
by  exceptional  acts  and  should  be  pointed  out  to  the  mul- 
titude by  the  god  who  protected  him.  There  was  pothing 
to  stand  in  the  way  of  any  such  idea;  there  was  not,  as 
there  is  to-day,  any  cycle  of  natural  laws  to  be  broken. 
Everything  concurred  to  render  it  reasonable;  no  contra- 
diction existed  between  the  miraculous  and  the  natural 
order. 

It  was  taken  for  granted  that  the  Messiah  would  per- 
form miracles,  as  so  many  others  had  done.  So  many 
others,  the  prophets,  Elijah  and  Elisha,  that  Simon  the 
Magician  of  whom  the  Acts  tell  us,"  and  Apollonius  of 
Tyana,  whose  biography  has  been  preserved  for  us  by 
Philostratus,  and  the  Alexandrian  philosophers,  Plotinus, 
etc.^  It  was  even  supposed  that  the  power  of  working 
miracles  was  not  unknown  to  other  rabbis  who  lived  at  the 
same  time  as  Jesus;  the  latter  also  made  miraculous  cures. 
Jesus  himself  alludes  to  these  when,  having  been  accused 
of  casting  out  devils  by  the  power  of  evil,  he  replies  to 
his  accusers:  "And  if  I  by  Beelzebub  cast  out  devils,  by 

fectly  natural  the  miracles  that  were  believed  to  have  preceded,  at 
Jerusalem,  the  war  with  the  Romans  and  the  siege  that  followed.  He 
does  not  question  these  signs  and  wonders  which  to-day  make  us  smile : 
the  apparition  of  a  star  in  the  form  of  a  sword,  a  cow  giving  birth  to  a 
lamb  in  the  Temple,  the  bronze  gates  opening  of  themselves,  the 
spectres  of  devils,  the  aerial  chariots  and  armed  battalions  dashing 
through  the  clouds,  etc.,  etc.  (Cf.  Eusebius,  Eccles.  Hist.,  Book  III, 
Chap.  VIII). 

2  Acts  viii,  9. 

3  Cf.  Renan,  op.  cit,  pp.  260-261. 


204  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

whom  do  your  children  cast  them  out?     Therefore  they 
shall  be  your  judges."  * 


S  I.     THE  EXPLANATIONS 

With  these  preliminary  facts  in  mind,  let  us  attempt  to 
approach  more  closely  the  miracles  of  Jesus  Christ.  At 
all  times  they  have  engrossed  the  attention  of  readers  of 
the  gospels.  Regarded  formerly  as  proofs  of  the  Messiah- 
ship  of  Jesus,  they  used  to  constitute  for  believers  the 
greatest  supports  of  their  faith;  people  found  in  reading 
the  account  of  them  the  greatest  edification.  To-day  they 
produce  upon  us  the  contrary  effect.  For  many  they  con- 
stitute an  obstacle  to  faith;  others  find  them  a  sort  of 
dead  weight  which  they  do  not  know  how  to  dispose  of. 
Hence  the  various  attempts  to  explain  them  which  may 
be  grouped  roughly  under  three  heads. 

1.  First  there  is  the  rationalistic  explanation  which  seeks 
to  account  for  all  the  miracles  as  natural.  Certain  theo- 
logians, for  instance,  have  reduced  the  cases  of  the  healing 
of  the  sick  to  various  cures  which  Jesus  accomplished  with 
very  simple  medical  means.  Some  go  so  far  as  to  maintain 
that  he  was  never  separated  from  his  doctor's  bag  and 
carried  it  about  with  him  everywhere.  They  have  removed 
the  mystery  from  all  the  other  miracles  also.  Thus  the 
multiplication  of  the  loaves  was  simply  the  result  of  the 
good  will  of  the  multitude  which,  having  pooled  its  pro- 
visions, found,  to  its  great  surprise,  that  it  was  sufficiently 
well  supplied,  etc.,  etc. 

2.  The  mythical  explanation,  advanced  by  Strauss,  who 
sees  in  the  miracles  of  the  New  Testament  simply  memories 
of  those  of  the  Old,  exploited  by  the  faith  of  the  first 
Christian  community.    The  Messiah  was  obliged  to  perform 

4  Matt,  xii,  27. 


J  THE  MIRACLES  205 

as  wonderful  things  as  the  heroes  of  the  Old  Testament 
had  performed.  Moses,  for  example,  had  miraculously  pro- 
vided food  and  drink  for  his  people.  Elijah  had  raised  the 
dead.  As  much,  therefore,  had  to  be  attributed  to  the 
Messiah,  and  the  miracles  were  born  as  if  by  enchantment. 

3.  The  symbolical  explanation  attempts  to  find  in  the 
miracle  a  simple  story  told  in  images,  a  sort  of  parable 
which  Jesus  related  and  which  was  later  in  some  way 
materialised,  transformed  into  a  real  occurrence.  Thus 
the  multiplication  of  the  loaves  was  originally  a  story  re- 
counting how  Jesus  had  fed  the  multitude  with  his  words 
alone.  In  time  this  was  materialised,  and  the  distorted 
story  ended  by  becoming  a  miracle. 

We  cannot  ignore  these  explanations  because  they  are 
insufficient;  they  undoubtedly  contain  useful  elements  with 
which  we  must  reckon.  All  three  of  them,  however,  make 
the  initial  mistake  of  regarding  the  miracle  as  a  derogation 
of  the  natural  laws,  whereas,  in  the  sense  in  which  the 
contemporaries  of  Jesus  understood  it,  the  miracle  may 
easily  have  contained  natural  elements  carried  to  the  height 
of  the  miraculous  thanks  to  the  mystery  concealed  in  every 
personal  presence  of  a  very  lofty  nature,  side  by  side  with 
other  elements  which  we  are  not  yet  perhaps  in  a  position 
to  understand. 

For  my  part,  I  believe  it  is  a  mistake  to  try  to  find  a 
single  explanation  for  all  the  miracles.  Under  this  term 
have  been  united  occurrences  in  the  life  of  Jesus  and  per- 
sonal acts  of  his  so  different  from  one  another  as  to  have, 
as  it  were,  nothing  in  common  but  their  extraordinary  char- 
acter. To  handle  the  matter  rightly,  we  should  take  them 
one  by  one  and  study  them  successively.  As  this  method 
of  procedure  would  take  too  long,  let  us  at  least  attempt 
to  group  them  in  classes.    Of  these  I  distinguish  three: 

I.    The  healings,  or  miracles  performed  on  persons. 


206  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

2.  The  miraculous  acts  which  seem  to  bear  upon  objects, 
but  of  which  the  moral  import  can  be  grasped. 

3.  The  miracles  of  which,  at  present  at  least,  we  cannot 
discern  the  moral  meaning. 


§  2.     THE  HEALINGS 

Jesus  performed  a  large  number  of  miraculous  healings: 
of  this,  if  we  are  to  believe  the  gospels,  there  can  be  no 
doubt.  An  extremely  interesting  study,  however,  might 
be  made  of  the  conditions  under  which  these  cures  were 
performed. 

It  is  to  be  observed  first  that  there  were  certain  occasions 
on  which  Jesus  was  unable  to  perform  miracles.  This  was 
the  case,  we  are  told,  at  Nazareth,  where  the  incredulity 
of  his  fellow-townsmen  raised  an  insurmountable  barrier 
against  him.^ 

On  the  other  hand,  Jesus  adopted  the  belief  which  was 
current  among  the  people  around  him  that  sickness  was, 
for  the  most  part,  the  work  of  devils;  thus  in  working  a 
cure  he  believed  that  he  was  casting  out  the  devil.  But 
it  is  also  important  to  note  that  he  did  not  always  cast 
out  devils  in  the  same  manner,  following,  for  instance,  a 
ritualistic  formula;  his  procedure  was  by  no  means  that 
of  the  vulgar  exorcists.  On  the  contrary,  each  case  was 
treated,  as  it  were,  according  to  a  psychic  pedagogy  whose 
methods  varied.  With  one  he  would  begin  by  "forgiving 
his  sins";  he  would  command  another  to  perform  some 
definite  act,  such  as  "Stretch  forth  thy  hand,"  or  "Arise 
and  walk  I"  Upon  others  still  he  operated  himself,  for  ex- 
ample putting  spittle  on  their  eyes. 

In  all  this  he  certainly  followed  no  prearranged  method; 
he  worked  by  an  inspired  intuition  which  helped  him  to 

6  Matt,  xiii,  58.— Mark  vi,  5-6. 


THE  MIRACLES  207 

find  the  path  to  his  neighbour's  soul.  It  is  none  the  less 
true  that  several  of  these  processes  correspond  to  those 
which  the  most  advanced  neurologists  and  psychiatrists 
prescribe  to-day  for  the  treatment  of  neuroses  and  mental 
maladies.  It  is  not,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  upon  ailments  and 
external  symptoms  that  the  latter,  in  our  day,  set  to  work 
first;  they  seek  out  the  roots  of  the  malady  in  the  inner- 
most recesses  of  the  being;  they  push  their  investigations 
into  the  subconscious  of  the  patient  to  find  the  germs  of 
his  illness.  When  this  has  been  done,  they  reveal  the 
patient  to  himself,  as  it  were,  and  the  cure  takes  place 
through  the  relief  experienced  by  the  neurotic  in  under- 
standing himself,  in  being  delivered  from  the  chains  that 
have  bound  him  inwardly,  in  expelling  from  himself  the 
false  ego  which  has  supplanted  the  true  one.  Jesus  did 
these  things  without  the  experimental  science  of  the  modern 
psycho-analysts,  but  there  is  no  need  to  suppose  that  he 
did  them  in  any  different  fashion.  It  was  the  influence 
of  a  stronger,  better-balanced  personality  that  acted  upon 
these  sick  people,  and  this  not  in  despite  of  all  natural 
laws,  but  rather  through  a  perfect  accord  with  the  laws 
of  the  psychology  which  we  are  now  beginning  to  under- 
stand and  which  at  the  time  were  totally  unknown,  though 
they  were  none  the  less  operative  for  that. 

We  see,  in  fact,  in  the  sick  of  the  time  of  Jesus,  the 
same  hesitations  and  the  same  enthusiasms  which  modern 
patients  manifest  towards  their  physicians.  For  example, 
there  is  the  curious  phenomenon  of  transference  of  which 
the  psycho-analysts  speak;  this  is  just  what  we  find  in 
the  objurgations  of  the  demoniacs  who  say  to  Jesus,  "What 
have  we  to  do  with  thee,  thou  Jesus  of  Nazareth?  Art 
thou  come  to  destroy  us?"  They  transfer  to  the  healer  the 
feelings  of  hatred  which  they  have  cherished  for  others, 
before  they  realise  that  it  is  upon  a  part  of  their  own  "I," 


2o8  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

upon  the  demoniac  portion  of  their  own  personality,  that 
this  hatred  ought  to  be  accumulated  in  order  to  destroy  it. 

We  might  multiply  these  comparisons,  showing,  for  ex- 
ample, that  the  confidence  of  the  patient  in  his  healer  is 
one  of  the  conditions,  and  the  most  important  of  the  con- 
ditions, of  any  possible  cure.  Jesus  aroused  this  confidence, 
and  it  was  only  upon  those  who  gave  it  to  him  that  he  was 
able  to  lavish  his  grace. 

Thus  in  the  miracles  of  this  type  we  find  nothing  but 
the  influence  exercised  in  the  most  natural  way  upon  the 
ill-balanced  and  the  neurotic  by  an  exceptionally  strong 
and  psychically  well-balanced  personality.  What  consti- 
tutes the  miracle  is,  chiefly  and  simply,  the  personality  of 
Jesus  itself,  the  fact  that  he  possessed  the  personality  which 
he  did  possess.  There  was  evidently  something  unique  in 
this:  it  was,  as  the  gospels  show  us,  the  intuition  which  his 
extraordinary  sympathy  gave  him  into  the  sorrows  of  others 
and  the  faculty  of  penetrating  to  the  depths  of  the  souls 
of  those  who  approached  him  with  the  minimum  of  con- 
fession. Here  the  mystery  lies,  not  in  any  force  contrary 
to  the  laws  of  nature  that  overturned  the  order  of  the 
natural  forces. 

The  Healing  of  the  Gadarene. — An  example  of  these  miracu- 
lous cures  will  help  us  to  understand  them  better.  Let  us  take 
that  of  the  demoniac  of  Gadara,  cited  by  the  three  synoptics.® 

We  observe  at  once  a  difference  in  the  accounts  of  the  evan- 
gelists who  relate  this  event.  The  briefest,  that  of  Matthew, 
mentions  two  demoniacs,  while  Mark  and  Luke  speak  of  only 
one,  one  who  says,  however,  that  he  is  called  "legion,"  thus 
indicating  that  he  feels  that  he  is  the  abode  of  several  demoniacal 
personalities. 

"It  is  amazing,"  wrote  Strauss,  years  ago,  "how  much  time 
the  harmonists  have  wasted  in  their  miserable  attempts  to  show 
that  Mark  and  Luke  mentioned  only  one  man  because  this  one 

6  Matt,  viii,  28-34. — I^'Iark  v,  1-20.— Luke  viii,  26-39. 


THE  MIRACLES  209 

was  especially  distinguished  by  his  violence,  whereas  Matthew 
mentioned  two  because  he  included  the  keeper  charged  with 
watching  over  the  madman,  the  dispute  ending  in  a  decision 
to  admit  that  there  is  an  actual  difference  between  the  two 
accounts."  ^  Strauss  protests  later  against  the  preference  which 
many  theologians  have  accorded  to  the  accounts  of  Mark  and 
Luke  over  that  of  Matthew,  showing  that  the  multiplicity  of 
devils  which  appears  in  the  former  had  become  in  the  latter  a 
multiplicity  of  demoniacs.  But  the  knowledge  we  now  possess 
of  these  curious  cases  of  double  personality  renders  the  suppo- 
sition that  Strauss  disputed  sufficiently  acceptable  and  more  plaus- 
ible, perhaps,  than  it  was  in  his  time. 

When  he  adds,  "It  is  permissible  to  say,  by  an  inverse  process 
of  reasoning,  that  Matthew's  account,  which  is  closer  to  the  fact 
and  which  speaks  of  several  possessed  men  and  several  devils, 
does  not  lay  sufficient  emphasis  on  that  which  is  especially 
extraordinary  and  which  we  find  in  the  accounts  of  the  other 
two,  the  fact  that  several  devils  should  have  inhabitated  a  single 
individual," — we  can  no  longer  follow  Strauss.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  it  would  be  stranger  to  see  two  madmen  living  together  than 
to  encounter  a  demoniac  who  believed  that  he  was  the  abode 
and  the  prey  of  several  devils.  Thus  the  priority  of  the  accounts 
of  Mark  and  Luke  seems  to  us  more  probable,  and  the  confusion 
of  the  multiplicity  of  the  devils  with  that  of  the  demoniacs  ad- 
missible enough. 

Here,  then,  we  find  ourselves  face  to  face  with  one  of  those 
strange  cases  of  neuroses  with  which  the  psychiatrists  have  often 
dealt.« 

"^  Strauss,  Vie  de  Jesus,  French  trans,  by  Littre.  Paris,  1864,  vol.  II, 
p.  30. 

8  Cf.,  among  others :  Mesnet,  Ern.,  De  I'aiitomatisme  de  la  memoir-e, 
Paris,  1874. 

Dyce,  The  Zoist,  vol.  IV,  p.  158. 

Proceedings  of  the  Society  of  Psych.  Research,  VII,  pp.  221-258; 
XIV,  pp.  396-398 ;  I,  p.  552. 

Annales  mcdico-psychol.     Jan.  1892. 

Boris  Sidis,  The  Psychology  of  Suggestion:  A  Research  into  the 
Subconscious  Nature'  of  Man  and  Society.    New  York,  1898. 

Boris  Sidis  and  Goodhart,  Multiple  Personality.    London,  1905. 

James,  W.,  Principles  of  Psychology,  I,  pp.  381-384. 

AzAM,  Hypnotisfhe,  Double  conscience,  etc.     Paris,  1887. 

Janet,  L'Automatisme  psychologiqiie,  4  ed.     Paris,  1903. 

Camuset,  Annales  mcdico-psychol.     1882,  p.  75. 

VoisiN,  Archives  de  Neurologic,  Sept.  1885. 


2IO  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

Strauss  also  points  out  a  divergence,  a  contradiction  even, 
between  the  accounts  which  render  them  open  to  suspicion,  "Ac- 
cording to  Matthew,  the  possessed,  on  catching  sight  of  Jesus, 
cry  out,  'What  have  we  to  do  with  thee,  Jesus,  thou  Son  of 
God?  Art  thou  come  hither  to  torment  us  before  the  time?' 
According  to  Luke,  the  demoniac  falls  at  the  feet  of  Jesus  and 
entreats  him,  'I  beseech  thee,  torment  me  not!'  Finally,  accord- 
ing to  Mark,  he  runs  to  Jesus,  falls  on  his  knees  and  implores 
him  in  the  name  of  God  not  to  torment  him,"  ^  What  does 
Strauss  make  of  these  contradictions?  He  criticises  the  inter- 
preters "who,  taking  Mark  as  a  point  of  departure,  must  them- 
selves admit  that  there  is  something  contradictory  about  the 
haste  of  a  demoniac  in  throwing  himself  at  the  feet  of  Jesus, 
whom  he  nevertheless  fears."  ^°  Now  to  any  one  who  is  at  all 
familiar  with  psycho-analytic  cures,  or  has  even  read  the  accounts 
of  some  of  these  cures,  there  is  nothing  incomprehensible  in  this 
contradictory  behaviour  of  the  sick  man.  It  is  a  shining  mani- 
festation of  the  ambivalence  ^^  of  which  the  psycho-analysts  have 

Morton  Prince,  Dissociation  of  a  Personality.    New  York,  1906. 

Mason,  R.  O.,  Dupkx  Personality;  its  Relation  to  Hypnotism  and 
to  Lucidity,  Journal  of  the  Amer.  Medic.  Ass.,  30  Nov.  1895. 

Myers,  F.  W.  H.,  Hutnan  Personality  and  Its  Survival  of  Bodily 
Death.    London  and  Bombay,  1907,  ch.  11. 

Flournoy,  Th.,  Esprits  et  Mediums.     Geneva  and  Paris,  191 1. 

Id.,  Des  Indes  a  la  planete  Mars.    Geneva  and  Paris,  1909. 

s  Strauss,  op.  cit.,  pp.  32-33. 

10  Id.,  ibid. 

11  The  psycho-analysts  have  made  us  aware  of  the  fact  that  there 
always  exists  in  us  a  double  current  of  contradictory  feelings.  In  re- 
lation to  the  same  object  our  inner  self  reacts  always  and  at  the  same 
time  in  two  opposite  ways,  and  this  gives  rise  to  two  series  of  con- 
tradictory feelings.  Thus  when  we  love  some  one  passionately,  there 
is  also,  in  the  subconscious  depths  of  our  being,  a  current  of  hatred 
for  him.  Crimes  of  passion  furnish  us  with  a  typical  example  of  this. 
"How  much  does  one  have  to  love  a  woman  in  order  to  kill  her?"  one 
might  ask. 

This  phenomenon  is  also  perceptible  in  our  common  everyday  life. 
Let  us  examine  it  for  a  moment  and  try  to  form  some  idea  of  it.  We 
are  leaving  a  gathering  of  friends  who  are  particularly  dear  to  us. 
Hardly  have  we  crossed  the  threshold  when,  if  there  are  several  of  us, 
we  begin  to  criticise  and  perhaps  censure  these  friends ;  in  any  case 
we  make  unkind  comparisons  or  bring  vtp  various  points  in  their  be- 
haviour towards  us  which  we  have  not  noticed  before.  We  say  things 
about  them  that  we  would  never  say  to  their  faces ;  oh,  not  malicious 
things,  but  still  things  that  are  more  or  less  disagreeable.  And  if 
some  scruple  restrains  us  from  saying  them,  at  least  we  think  them, 
which   is   exactly   the   same  thing.     What   is   the   cause   of   this  phe- 


THE  MIRACLES  2.11 

often  spoken  and  which  appears  so  frequently  in  cases  of  trans- 
ference, in  which  the  patient,  attached  to  his  physician,  hates 
and  adores  him  by  turns  and  concentrates  upon  his  person  all 
the  violence  of  the  feelings  which  agitate  him  in  relation  to  quite 

nomenon?  It  is  simply  that  the  current  of  hatred,  which  has  been 
arrested  by  all  the  social  constraints  of  the  drawing-room,  is  liberated 
in  the  street.  This  is  a  natural  phenomenon,  revealing  in  its  way  what 
Bleuler  has  called  the  ambivalence  of  the  feelings,  and  Silberer  their 
bipolarity. 

The  phenomenon  of  jealousy  also  illustrates  very  clearly  this  per- 
sistence in  us  of  two  opposite  currents  of  feeling  in  connection  with 
the  same  person.  As  a  rule,  we  have  no  suspicion  of  this  in  ourselves, 
for  the  simple  reason  that,  while  one  of  these  currents  is  quite  con- 
scious, the  other  is  flowing  in  the  depths  of  the  subliminal.  Some  ac- 
cidental circumstance  is  necessary  to  bring  it  to  light,  but  it  exists 
none  the  less. 

Jones,  in  a  study  of  the  painter,  Andrea  del  Sarto,  tells  how  this 
artist  married  while  young  a  woman  whom  he  adored,  but  who  was 
far  from  being  on  the  level  of  his  genius.  According  to  Jones,  it 
appears  that  he  must  have  had  reason  to  consider  her  as  an  obstacle  in 
his  life;  nevertheless  he  loved  her  and  chose  her  as  the  model  for  all 
the  madonnas  he  painted.  But  the  subconscious  current  of  hatred 
manifests  itself  in  one  of  his  great  paintings.  Unintentionally  per- 
haps, he  painted  on  the  pedestal  of  the  celebrated  Madonna  of  the 
Harpies,  precisely  those  harpies  which  are  the  symbol  of  evil.  It  is 
a  vengeance  of  the  subconscious.  His  wife  had  set  him  at  variance 
with  all  his  friends ;  she  was  a  busy-body  and  she  had  imposed 
upon  him,  under  his  own  roof,  the  whole  of  her  own  family.  Sub- 
consciously, he  had  every  reason  to  hate  her ;  but,  to  repeat,  con- 
sciously he  loved  her.  His  brush  betrayed  his  inner  self,  and  not  once 
only,  for  among  the  draperies  which  cover  the  knees  of  another 
madonna  for  which  his  wife  was  the  model  we  can  distinguish  again 
the  figure  of  a  harpy. 

All  this  is  interesting;  we  might  multiply  examples.  But  nothing 
can  take  the  place  of  the  study  of  oneself.  If  we  face  frankly  that 
multiple  and  delicate  life  of  the  feelings  which  is  in  ourselves,  we 
shall  soon  subscribe,  I  think,  to  this  idea  of  the  ambivalence  of  the 
feelings.  You  are  very  fond  of  your  friend  X ;  you  feel  for  him  an 
inalterable  tenderness,  an  old  affection.  Then  why,  just  when  he  has 
won  a  brilliant  success,  have  you  felt,  in  the  midst  of  your  pleasure, 
a  sort  of  secret  discomfort?  Why  have  you  said  to  yourself  that  this 
success  is  very  fortunate,  but  that,  after  all,  people  are  carrying  their 
admiration  rather  far?  It  is  because,  while  you  love  your  friend,  you 
hate  at  the  same  time  the  rival  which  he  is  for  you.  There  we  have 
the  ambivalence !  I  shall  certainly  not  do  you  the  wrong  of  believing 
that  you  give  your  consent  to  these  sorry  feelings.  But  do  they  not 
exist,  dissembled  but  rampant,  in  yourself?    That  is  the  whole  question. 

We  were  astonished  to  learn  from  several  German  newspapers,  im- 
mediately after  the  invasion  of  the  north  of  France,  that  the  Germans 
loved  the  French,  or  at  least  had  a  certain  sympathy  for  them.  We 
must  not  cry  out  in  horror  at  this :  it  is  one  more  manifestation  of  am- 
bivalence, of  the  bipolarity  of  the  feelings;   for  if  there  was  an  ele- 


212  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

other  individualities,  with  whom  he  momentarily  and  subcon- 
sciously identifies  him.^^ 

It  may  not  be  possible,  with  the  aid  merely  of  our  three 
accounts,  to  reconstitute  exactly  all  the  details  of  the  scene. 
But  we  feel  how  much  this  ambivalence  of  the  feelings  of  the 
demoniac  and  the  contradictory  nature  of  the  conduct  which 
arose  from  it  struck  the  spectators  who  later  recounted  the 
events  as  best  they  could,  and  as  they  believed  they  remembered 
them. 

Concerning  the  healing  itself  there  is  not  much  to  say.  We  see 
Jesus  trying  to  effect  the  dissociation  between  the  false  I  of  this 
man  and  his  real  I  by  commanding  the  devil  to  come  forth.  This 
was  his  usual  procedure,  and  it  must  be  admitted  that  it  strangely 
resembles  that  of  the  modern  psycho-analysts  who,  having  dis- 
covered by  recourse  to  his  dreams  and  to  analysis  the  borrowed 
personality  of  the  patient,  reveal  it  to  him  simply  so  that  he  may 
abjure  it. 

Resistance  often  takes  place.  This  occurs  in  the  case  of  the  de- 
moniac in  question.  Jesus  attempts  to  overcome  it  by  making 
an  appeal  to  the  real  personality  which  consists  in  asking  for 
his  name.  But  here  again  the  resistance  simply  braces  itself 
and  the  unconscious  profits  by  the  occasion  to  affirm  itself.  In- 
stead of  telling  his  real  name,  the  man  replies  by  assuming  a 
borrowed  name  on  which  is  inscribed  symbolically  the  very  ab- 
normality of  his  condition,  his  multiple  personality.  He  declares 
that  he  is  called  Legion. 

Then,  as  it  appears,  Jesus  profited  by  a  question  of  the  sufferer 
himself,  caught  on  the  wing,  in  order  to  carry  out  his  design  and 

ment  of  conscious  hypocrisy  in  this  affirmation,  there  was  also  per- 
haps more  subconscious  sincerity  than  we  wish  to  believe. 

Cf .  on  ambivalence :  Bleuler,  Das  autistische  Dcnken,  pp.  39  Jahr- 
buch  f.  psychoanal.  Forschungen  IV. — Id.,  Ambivalenz,  Universitat 
Zurich.  Festgabe  zur  Einweihung  der  Neubauten,  18  April,  1914, 
III,  pp.  93-106. 

1- Cf.  on  transference  (Uebertragung),  Freud,  Sammlung  kleiner 
Schriften  cur  Neurosenlchre,  pp.  104. — Ferenzci,  Introjektion  und 
Uebertragung,  Jahrbuch  f.  psjchoanal.  Forschung,  I,  pp.  422 — Jung, 
Versuch  ciner  Darstellung  der  psychoanalyt.  Thcorie.  Ibid.  V. — Pfis- 
ter.  Die  psychoanal.  Methods.  Leipzig,  Klinkhardt.  1913,  pp.  394  et 
seqq. — Id.,  Was  bietet  die  Psychanalysc  dein  Erzichcr?  Leipzig, 
Klinkhardt,  pp.  89. — Id.,  Wahrheit  und  Schonhcit  in  der  Psychanalysc 
Zurich,  Rascher,  1918,  pp.  135. — See  also  p.  250  et  seqq.  of  the  present 
volume. 


THE  MIRACLES  213 

bring  about  the  delayed  dissociation.  What  happened  was  that 
the  demoniac  "besought  him  much,"  as  Mark  tells  us,  "that  he 
would  not  send  them  [the  devils]  away  out  of  the  country." 
"They  besought  him,"  says  Luke,  "that  he  would  not  command 
them  to  go  out  into  the  deep."  "The  devils  besought  him,  saying, 
Send  us  into  the  swine,  that  we  may  enter  into  them"  (Mark). 
"And  there  was  there  an  herd  of  many  sv/ine  feeding  on  the 
mountain:  and  they  besought  him  that  he  would  suffer  them  to 
enter  into  them"  (Luke).  "And  he  suffered  them"  (Mark  and 
Luke). 

Jesus  evidently  saw  in  this  prayer  the  salvation  of  the  man 
who  was  not  atjle  to  separate  himself  from  his  devil.  He  gave 
his  permission.  It  is  quite  natural  that  at  this  moment  the 
demoniac,  pursuing  his  idea,  prey  as  he  was  to  a  violent  emotion 
and  still  identifying  himself  with  his  legion,  should  have  turned 
towards  the  herd  to  enter  into  them  and  should  thus  have  fright- 
ened them.  Hence  the  panic,  hurling  the  swine  into  the  lake. 
In  the  sight  of  them  vanishing,  drowned,  the  man  had  lost  his 
legion  along  with  them;  it  was  at  last  dissociated  from  him.  His 
devil,  his  devils  were  drowned  with  the  swine  and,  like  the  swine, 
in  the  lake. 

The  explanation  is  of  course  too  simple  for  people  to  have 
found  it  at  once.^^  It  has  even  been  conjectured  that  the  swine 
were  precipitated  into  the  lake  by  the  storm  that  had  burst 
during  the  crossing  of  Jesus  and  before  he  disembarked,  and  that, 
wishing  to  heal  the  demoniac,  he  himself  or  one  of  his  followers 
convinced  the  man  that  the  demons  had  already  entered  into  the 
swine  and  had  dashed  into  the  lake.^*  As  for  Strauss,  he  sees 
in  the  episode  of  the  swine  an  addition  to  the  legend  intended 
to  serve  as  a  proof  of  the  actual  expulsion  of  devils.  It  is  a 
fact  that  such  conjurors  as  Eleazar  (cited  by  Josephus),  Apol- 
lonius  of  Tyana,  etc.,  in  order  to  convince  those  who  came  to 
consult  them  as  to  the  reality  of  the  expulsion  of  devils,  would 
cause  the  devil  as  he  came  forth  to  overturn  some  nearby  object, 
a  vase  full  of  water  (Eleazar),  for  example,  or  a  statue  (Apol- 
lonius).  It  was  necessary  for  Jesus  also  to  have  this  proof,  and 
the  devil  cast  the  herd  of  swine  into  the  sea. 

All  this,  we  must  confess,  is  rather  pitiable.    The  scene,  as 

IS  Neander  comes  close  to  it  (cf.  Strauss,  op.  cit.,  p.  41). 
"The  hypothesis  of  Krug  (cf.  Strauss,  op.  cit.,  pp.  4^-42). 


214  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

a  matter  of  fact,  is  quite  natural  just  as  we  have  described  it. 
A  few  details,  perhaps,  such  as  Mark's  enumeration  of  two  thou- 
sand swine,  may  be  particularisations  added  after  the  event.  But 
the  episode  as  a  whole  has  the  most  striking  air  of  truth,  and 
our  modern  studies  of  neuroses  cast  a  new  light  upon  several 
of  its  features  which  we  might  formerly  have  supposed  were 
invented.  This  shows  that  we  must  not  be  in  too  great  haste 
to  reject  everything  in  the  gospels  that  we  do  not  clearly  under- 
stand, and  that  great  patience  is  necessary  in  this  connection. 


g  3.     MIRACLES   OF   WHICH   THE   MORAL   IMPORT   IS   OBVIOUS 

The  second  category  of  miracles  of  which  we  have  to 
speak  here  is  much  more  difficult  to  study.  It  comprises, 
in  fact,  events  of  which  it  is  sometimes  far  from  easy  to 
reconstitute  the  exact  unfolding  and  the  complete  develop- 
ment. They  made  a  very  lively  impression  on  the  minds 
of  the  multitude  or  of  the  disciples;  and  those  who  were 
present  when  they  occurred  saw  miracles  in  them. 

The  difficult  thing  to  ascertain  exactly,  however,  is  the 
extent  to  which  their  emotion  and  their  lack  of  what  we 
to-day  call  the  critical  sense  may  have  prevented  them  from 
distinguishing  the  physical  facts  from  the  moral  facts  that 
stirred  them.  These  miracles,  as  we  follow  the  drift  of 
the  accounts,  appear  to  consist  in  a  display  of  unknown 
and  consequently  divine  forces  that  have  a  direct  influence 
upon  matter.  But  was  this  always  really  the  case?  How- 
ever it  may  be,  we  must  remember  that  for  those  who  were 
present  at  these  occurrences  such  distinctions  were  very 
vague,  that  for  them  the  spiritual  readily  translated  itself 
into  the  m.aterial,  that  they  did  not  experience  the  same 
difficulty  that  we  do  in  objectifying  into  a  material  fact 
whatever  happened  to  stir  their  psychic  faculties. 

Here,  of  course,  we  are  dealing  with  one  of  the  most 
marked  characteristics  of  simple,  uncultivated  minds;  they 


THE  MIRACLES  215 

project  into  external  phenomena  the  intensity  and  the  colour 
of  the  emotion  that  has  agitated  them.  We  know  with 
what  caution  the  testimony  given  in  the  law-courts  must 
be  regarded:  the  witnesses  often  imagine  that  they  have 
seen  things  which  have  never  happened  at  all.  This  is  be- 
cause they  transpose  into  physical  facts  the  moral  emotion 
that  has  pervaded  them  at  the  moment  of  a  crime,  for  ex- 
ample, or  some  other  scene  that  has  greatly  moved  them. 
We  must  bear  this  in  mind  Vv^hile  examining  the  miracles 
of  which  we  are  speaking. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  also  important  to  notice  that 
Jesus  always  refused  when  people  asked  him  for  signs,  that 
is  for  miracles  that  were  simply  miracles,  for  thaumaturgy.^^ 
He  was  unwilling  to  give  any  sign  but  the  sign  of  Jonas 
going  to  the  Ninevites  who  repented  at  his  preaching,  that 
is  a  purely  moral  sign — or  rather  the  sort  of  signs  that  any 
one  can  find  in  nature  and  that  have  their  parallels  in  the 
life  of  the  Spirit  (See  Matthew  xvi,  1-4)."  Thus  Jesus 
seems  to  have  had  a  veritable  aversion  to  performing  mira- 
cles. Those  which  he  did  perform  he  did  not  regard  as 
miracles,  in  the  magical  sense  of  the  word,  but  rather  as 
a  bringing  into  play  for  the  benefit  of  others  of  the  inner 
and  divine  forces  that  he  possessed.  We  have  a  right, 
therefore,  to  challenge  any  report  in  which  the  miracle  ap- 
pears to  have  no  practical,  moral  utility.  Miracles  of  this 
kind  seem  to  indicate,  when  we  take  into  consideration  the 
position  of  Jesus  himself,  an  alteration  of  the  events  by 

15  Cf.  Mark  viii,  ii;  Luke  xi,  29-30. 

1^  The  text  Matthew  xii,  38-40,  presents  what  is  evidently  an  altera- 
tion of  the  thought  of  Jesus  resulting  from  the  influence  of  the  sur- 
rounding mentality.  The  allusion  to  the  three  days  and  the  three 
nights  in  the  belly  of  the  whale  does  not  appear  in  Luke  xi,  29-30, 
where  the  person  of  Jonas  is  taken  as  a  sign  because  the  Ninevites  re- 
pented at  his  word  and  not  at  all  because  he  passed  three  days  in  the 
belly  of  a  sea-monster.  We  see  from  this  example  how  the  meaning 
of  the  words  of  Jesus  was  occasionally  misunderstood  and  uncon- 
sciously modified  by  those  who  heard  them  or  by  the  first  generation 
that  followed  them. 


2i6  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

witnesses  who  misunderstood  them  or  understood  them  in- 
completely. In  order  to  make  this  clear,  let  us  choose  as 
an  example  one  of  the  miracles  that  we  may  regard  as  the 
best  attested  in  the  gospels  since  we  find  it  narrated  in  all 
of  our  four  sources:  that  of  the  multiplication  of  the  loaves. 

The  multiplication  of  the  loaves. — This  scene  is  related  by 
Matthew  (xiv,  13-21),  Mark  (vi,  30-34),  Luke  (ix,  10-17),  and 
John  (vi,  1-15).  It  is  all  the  more  striking  since  it  was  at 
this  time  that  one  of  the  turning-points  in  the  life  of  Christ 
occurred.  Immediately  after  it,  in  fact,  we  see  the  multitude 
beginning  to  abandon  him,  and  he  even  asks  his  disciples  if  they 
are  going  to  leave  him."  This  miracle  thus  resulted  in  a  sort 
of  sifting  and  sorting  of  the  followers  of  Jesus;  it  transformed 
his  activity  as  a  popular  orator  who  was  beloved  and  followed, 
as  a  leader  of  the  multitude,  into  an  activity  that  was  more 
limited  and  that  was  henceforth  to  be  directed  towards  a  deeper 
work.    What  took  place,  then,  on  that  memorable  day? 

John  (vi,  14),  we  observe,  is  the  only  one  who  pronounces  the 
word  miracle;  the  others  confine  themselves  to  relating  the  facts. 
Now  the  facts  are  these:  a  multitude  of  more  than  five  thousand 
persons,  Jesus  anxious  not  to  send  all  these  people  away  hungry, 
only  five  loaves  and  two  fishes  with  which  to  feed  them.  After 
Jesus  has  made  every  one  sit  down  and  has  pronounced  the 
blessing  and  distributed  the  five  loaves  and  the  two  fishes,  it 
is  found  that  they  are  all  satisfied,  and  they  carry  away  twelve 
baskets  full  of  fragments  that  remain.  The  impression  of  abun- 
dance and  repletion  succeeds  the  first  impression  that  had  pre- 
vailed of  dearth  and  distress. 

The  first  idea  that  occurs  to  us  upon  reading  this  account, 
and  it  certainly  seems  to  have  been  that  of  the  redactors,  is 
that  Jesus  multiplied  the  loaves  and  fishes.  There  is  nothing  to 
prevent  those  who  have  a  ready  faith  from  accepting  the  miracle 
in  these  terms  and  without  going  further.  Yet  it  must  be  ob- 
served that  questions  arise  in  connection  with  it.  We  know 
nothing  of  any  laws  by  which  a  sudden  multiplication  of  this 
kind  could  take  place.  'The  direct  intervention  of  God,"  people 
reply.    So  it  appears,  but  God  has  hardly  accustomed  us  to  in- 

17  John  vi,  67. 


THE  MIRACLES  217 

terventions  of  this  sort,  even  in  the  life  of  Jesus.  He  did  not 
make  him  known  by  means  of  miracles;  on  the  contrary,  Jesus 
had  to  win  through  human  labour  and  human  suffering  his  cre- 
dentials to  humanity. 

Pursuing  this  line,  moreover,  we  cannot  but  connect  the  mul- 
tiplication with  the  first  temptation  of  Jesus.  He  had  been 
tempted,  we  remember,  to  make  bread  out  of  stones,  and  he 
had  refused  to  do  so.  It  is  true  that  the  question  then  was 
one  of  feeding  himself  and  that  here  it  was  a  question  of  feeding 
others.  But  let  us  consider  the  circumstances.  This  multitude 
had  been  fasting  for  a  day;  but  is  it  as  terrible  as  all  that  to 
go  a  day  without  eating?  Can  we  imagine  that  Jesus,  who 
recommended  holding  the  flesh  in  check,  would  have  kept  his 
pity  and  his  mercy  for  a  case,  let  us  say  it  frankly,  as  futile 
as  this?  If  it  was  merely  a  question  of  corporal  hunger,  is  it 
not  easier  to  suppose  that  he  would  have  simply  sent  them  all 
away  till  the  next  day?  We  are  thus  confronted  here  with  some- 
thing that  is  not  easily  explained;  a  sort  of  mystery  broods  over 
this  episode.  Some  question  of  bread  there  was,  of  course;  no 
doubt  there  was  a  meal,  and  a  material  meal.  But  was  nothing 
involved  besides  this?  And  was  it  really  in  this  that  the  true 
miracle  consisted?  That,  it  seems  to  me,  is  the  question  we 
have  a  right  to  ask. 

Nor  is  this  the  only  question;  others  follow.  If  we  consult 
John,  who  is  so  much  more  penetrating  than  the  others  as  regards 
the  inner  life,  whose  eye  is  so  much  more  expert  in  grasping  the 
mysterious  threads  in  the  life  of  his  Master,  we  find  that  on 
the  day  after  the  multiplication  of  the  loaves,  the  multitude  again 
began  to  search  for  Jesus  and  that  when  he  met  them  he  stopped 
them  with  these  words:  "Ye  seek  me,  not  because  ye  saw  the 
miracles,  but  because  ye  did  eat  of  the  loaves,  and  were  filled. 
Labour  not  for  the  meat  which  perisheth,  but  for  that  meat  which 
endureth  unto  everlasting  life,  which  the  Son  of  Man  shall  give 
unto  you:  for  him  hath  God  the  Father  sealed."  "  Jesus  him- 
self thus  seems  to  feel  the  need  of  throwing  light  upon  an  action 
of  his  own  which  has  been  misinterpreted.  It  is  not  the  "meat 
which  perisheth"  that  matters  in  the  multiplication  of  the  loaves; 
it  is  something  else  which  the  witnesses  have  not  understood. 
And  this  beginning  is  merely  the  prologue  to  a  long  discussion 

18  John  vi,  26-27. 


2i8  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

in  which  Jesus  finally  reveals  to  them  that  he  is  himself  the 
bread  of  life  and  says  to  them  such  hard  ^^  words  that  they  turn 
their  backs  on  him  for  good  and  all.  These  words  are  that  they 
must  ''eat  his  flesh  and  drink  his  blood,"  ^°  all  this  from  the 
spiritual  point  of  view,^^  in  order  to  have  eternal  life. 

For  my  part,  I  see  in  this  discourse  simply  a  clearer,  more 
direct,  more  emphatic  explanation  of  the  sense  that  Jesus  himself 
attributed  to  the  scene  which  had  taken  place  the  day  before. 
They  had  not  understood  him.  The  multitude,  roused  to  such 
enthusiasm  that  they  had  wanted  to  make  him  king  but  from 
which  he  had  stolen  away,  had  not  grasped  the  deep  meaning 
of  what  he  had  performed  there.  The  proof  is  that  when  he 
explains  himself  better  there  is  a  complete  revulsion  of  feeling, 
and  every  one  abandons  him. 

Hence,  according  to  Jesus  himself,  the  so-called  scene  of  the 
multiplication  of  the  loaves  was  misunderstood  by  the  multitude. 
Those  who  were  present  laid  stress  upon  what  was  of  secondary 
importance  and  disregarded  what  was  essential.  And  what  was 
essential  was  a  miracle  that  related  to  the  person  of  Christ  him- 
self: the  miracle  of  this  very  personality  which  was  at  that  mo- 
ment, for  them,  spiritual  food.  Quite  secondary  was  the  bread 
which  they  had  eaten.  Granted  that  they  bad  been  given  loaves: 
in  one  way  or  another  (and  here  we  can  return  to  the  rationalistic 
explanation  that  the  good  will  of  all  supplied  the  lack  of  a  few), 
in  one  way  or  another  every  one's  hunger  had  been  appeased, 
and  there  were  some  fragments  left.  But  the  miracle  did  not 
consist  in  this,  and  Jesus  grieves  because  they  have  seen  the 
bread  only  and  not  the  miracle. 

In  what,  then,  did  the  miracle  consist?  Here,  it  must  be  ad- 
mitted, lies  a  mystery  which  the  faith  of  Christians  should  seek 
to  interpret.  Perhaps  it  was  entirely  in  the  emotion  that  made 
this  multitude  hang  for  hours  upon  the  lips  of  Christ,  in  the 
spiritual  bond  that  established,  between  himself  and  these  men, 
that  living,  vibrant  communion  in  which  their  souls  mingled. 
It  was  an  unforgettable  moment,  this,  in  which  the  Master  ap- 
peared as  what  he  was  to  the  charmed  and  astonished  eyes  of 
the  spectators;  they  felt  in  him  the  Messiah  and  the  Son  of 

lojohn  vi,  60. 
^oibid.,  53-56. 
-1  Ibid.,  63-64. 


THE  MIRACLES  219 

God,  and  they  rested  in  the  security  and  the  hope  that  came  from 
him.  They  were  appeased  not  by  the  bread  only,  but  also  by 
the  divine  words  that  fell  from  his  lips. 

But  impressions  of  this  kind  do  not  last  long  with  those  who 
do  not  deliberately  cherish  them.  A  day  had  not  passed  before 
the  multitude  had  ceased  to  think  of  anything  but  the  bread. 
Their  spiritual  impressions  had  been  materialised  and  congealed 
into  expressions  of  a  purely  corporeal  miracle,  and  they  no  longer 
saw  in  the  Messiah  who  had  just  been  holding  them  under  the 
charm  of  his  words  anything  but  a  man  who  could  give  them 
bread  again  whenever  it  was  necessary. 

Thus  what  is  important  in  the  miracle  of  the  multiplication 
of  the  loaves  is,  to  repeat,  and  as  in  the  healings,  the  person  of 
Jesus,  the  psychic  specificity  of  this  person  and  the  sort  of 
action  that  it  exercised  over  others.  This  is  the  great  miracle 
which  one  finds  under  all  the  material  garments  that  tradition 
has  superadded  to  it;  this  is  the  living  germ  about  which  the 
whole  legend  has  gathered. 

We  have  not  the  leisure  to  undertake  here  a  similar  study 
in  connection  with  every  miracle  in  the  gospels.  I  should 
like,  however,  to  say  one  word  more,  which  will  necessarily 
be  too  brief,  on  the  subject  of  the  resurrections  of  the  dead 
that  Jesus  performed:  that  of  the  son  of  the  widow  of  Nain, 
that  of  Lazarus,  that  of  the  daughter  of  Jairus. 

What  are  we  to  think  of  these  miracles?  A  preliminary 
remark,  which  seems  to  me  fairly  decisive:  supposing  that 
Jesus  had  the  power  to  raise  the  dead,  why,  we  are  impelled 
to  ask,  did  he  choose  to  raise  some  and  not  all?  There 
is  an  injustice  in  this,  when  we  stop  to  think  of  it,  that 
would  have  horrified  one  like  Jesus.  And  again,  if  we 
are  to  believe  that  he  raised  all  the  dead  of  whom  he  had 
knowledge,  how  are  we  to  explain  the  fact  that  he  was  not 
immediately  taken  for  a  god  and  adored  as  such?  A  man 
who  could  feel  himself  in  possession  of  such  a  power  and 
not  exercise  it  on  all  occasions,  whatever  the  consequences, 
would  appear  a  monster  of  egoism.    It  seems  to  me  aston- 


220  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

ishing  that  this  argument,  simple  as  it  is,  has  not  bren  more 
often  advanced.  We  cannot  imagine  Jesus,  the  Jesus  we 
know,  realising  that  he  was  the  master  of  death  in  this  world 
and  not  undertaking  a  crusade  against  it. 

A  second  consideration  must  be  added  to  this.  How 
does  it  happen  that  we  are  told  nothing  about  the  later 
fate  of  those  who  were  resuscitated  in  this  way?  Did  they 
live  long  lives?  Were  they  obliged  to  pass  through  death 
a  second  time?  In  that  case,  was  their  lot  enviable? 
Should  we  not  feel  rather  pity  than  envy  for  people  who, 
thanks  to  the  mercy  of  Christ,  were  called  upon  to  pass 
twice  through  that  dark  gate?  These  are  all  questions 
indeed,  and  more  serious  from  a  moral  point  of  view  than 
they  may  appear. 

A  third  consideration,  finally,  is  that  we  must  take  into 
account  here  again  the  facility  with  which  legends  are 
formed  through  the  simple  accentuation  of  a  few  details 
of  the  reality.  In  the  cases  in  question  the  death  may 
not  have  been  real;  it  may  have  been  an  apparent  death 
or  lethargy.  What  makes  us  incline  to  this  hypothesis  is 
the  fact  that  at  least  one  of  the  stories  of  resurrections, 
that  of  the  daughter  of  Jairus,^^  shows  evidences  of  the  pas- 
sage of  history  into  legend.  This  story  is  usually  offered 
us  as  that  of  a  resurrection;  the  death  of  the  young  girl 
is  announced  by  those  who  come  to  inform  Jairus:  "Thy 
daughter  is  dead;  why  troublest  thou  the  Master  any  fur- 
ther?" "^  And  it  appears  indeed  as  if  the  evangelists  sub- 
scribed to  this  affirmation  and  accepted  it  as  true.  But 
Jesus,  on  reaching  the  house,  affirms  just  the  contrary: 
"The  damsel  is  not  dead,  but  sleepeth,"  ^*  and  he  awakens 
her  from  her  sleep.    Thus,  by  the  testimony  of  Christ  him- 

22  Matt,  ix,  18-26;  Mark  v,  21-43;  Luke  viii,  40-56. 

23  Mark  v,  35 ;  Luke  viii,  49. — Matthew  represents  Jairus  as  coming 
at  once  to  find  Jesus  because  his  daughter  is  dead  (Matt,  ix,  18). 

2*  Matt,  ix,  24 ;  Mark  v,  39 ;  Luke  viii,  52. 


THE  MIRACLES  221 

self,  there  is  no  question  of  a  resurrection  here;  and  yet, 
in  spite  of  the  clearness  of  the  text,  many  pastors  still 
preach  on  this  passage  as  if  a  resurrection  were  involved 
in  it. 

It  might  be  possible  to  see  in  the  raising  of  the  son  of 
the  widow  of  Nain,  and  even  in  that  of  Lazarus,  analogous 
facts  of  which  the  sense  was  later  obscured.  We  shall 
not  go  to  the  lengths  of  some  theologians  who  see,  in  the 
case  of  Lazarus,  a  pious  fraud  arranged  between  Jesus  and 
the  sisters  of  the  dead  man;  nevertheless  we  seem  to  dis- 
cern, in  the  exclamation  of  Jesus  at  the  moment  when  the 
tomb  is  opened,  rather  the  granting  of  a  prayer  than  a 
resurrection.  Lazarus  is  alive;  Jesus  sees  it,  and  he  thanks 
God  that  he  is  alive.  He  does  not  bring  him  back  to  life; 
he  causes  to  come  forth  from  the  tomb  one  whom  they 
have  believed  dead  and  whose  life  he  has  asked  of  God. 

From  these  various  observations,  the  incompleteness  of 
which  I  do  not  conceal  from  myself,  and  which  ought  to 
be  taken  up  again  and  considered  in  detail  in  each  case, 
there  yet  rises  the  following  hypothesis  which  I  should  like 
to  develop  a  little,  without  wishing  to  imply  that  it  is  the 
only  one  possible: 

The  fewness  of  the  resurrections  of  the  dead  which  the 
evangelists  report  leads  us  to  believe  that  Jesus  did  not 
raise  all  the  dead  whom  he  saw.  It  is  to  be  remarked, 
on  the  other  hand,  that  we  are  never  told  of  any  failure 
on  the  part  of  Christ,  any  attempt  at  resuscitation,  in  which 
he  did  not  succeed.  It  seems  improbable,  therefore,  that 
Jesus  undertook  a  resuscitation  on  every  occasion  when 
he  heard  of  a  death.  When  he  did  so,  however,  when  he 
approached  a  death-bed  or  a  tomb,  it  was  invariably  with 
the  assurance  and  the  kind  of  assurance  that  gives  to  those 
who  understand  such  things  the  power  to  struggle  in  prayer 
and  the  triumph  of  having  their  prayers  granted.     This  is 


222  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

very  noticeable  in  the  account  of  the  raising  of  Lazarus. 
In  that  of  the  daughter  of  Jairus,  one  finds  in  Jesus  that 
particular  accent  which  moral  certitude  assumes  when  it  has 
been  acquired  after  a  short  withdrawal  in  prayer. 

To  attempt  to  penetrate  into  this  aspect  of  the  psychology 
of  Jesus  would  be  hardy  indeed;  we  can  only  do  so  by  the 
aid  of  analogies,  and  unfortunately  we  lack  precise  testi- 
mony regarding  the  certitude  and  the  kind  of  certitude  that 
is  felt  by  those  who,  while  they  are  praying  and  before 
they  have  actually  seen  the  fulfilment,  know  that  their 
prayers  are  granted.  This  subject  calls  for  a  study  which 
has  already  been  begun  but  which  is  still  far  from  being 
complete."^  In  particular,  one  might  compare  the  case  of 
those  who  in  praying  are  aware  in  advance  of  the  success 
or  failure  of  their  prayer,  with  those  curious  cases  of 
premonition  or  telepathy  in  which,  at  times  vaguely  and 
at  other  times  in  the  most  precise  manner,  certain  indi- 
viduals, endowed  with  mediumistic  qualities,  realise  that 
"something"  expected  or  dreaded  is  about  to  happen.  It 
seems  then  as  if  tenuous  threads  were  woven  between  the 


25  Cf.  Second,  J.,  La  pricrc,  essai  de  psychologic  religieuse.  Paris, 
Alcan,   191 1,  pp.  364. 

OsTERMANN,  R.,  Contribution  a  I'etud-e  cxperimentale  de  la  priere 
chrctienne   (thesis).    Geneva,  1907,  pp.  loi. 

Leo,  a.,  Etude  psychologique  sur  la  priere  (thesis).  Montauban, 
1905,  pp.  84. 

Pfender,  De  la  priere  juive  a  la  priere  chretienne  (thesis).  Montau- 
ban, 1905. 

Beck,  F.  O.,  Prayer:  a  Study  in  Its  History  and  Psychology.  Amer. 
Jour,  of  Relig.  Psychol.,  II,  pp.  107-121. 

Ransom,  S.  W.,  Studies  in  the  Psychology  of  Prayer.    Ibid.  I,  p.  129. 

Pratt,  J.  B.,  An  Empirical  Study  of  Prayer.     Ibid.  IV  p.  48. 

GuiMARAENs  (F.  DA  Costa),  Le  bcsoin  de  prier  et  ses  conditions 
psychologiques.    Rev.  philosoph.,  1902,  LIV,  p.  391. 

Strong,  Anna,  The  Relation  of  the  Subconscious  to  Prayer.  Amer. 
Jour,  of  Relig.  Psychol.,  1906,  I,  pp.  129-142. 

FosDiCK,  H.  E.,  The  Meaning  of  Prayer.  London,  Stud.  Christ. 
Movement,  1916,  pp.  196. 

Heiler,  Fr.,  Das  Gebef,  cine  religionsgeschichtliche  unr  religions- 
psychologische  Untersuchung.  2nd.  ed.  Miinchen,  Reinhardt,  1920, 
5S8  pp. 


THE  MIRACLES  223 

expectant  soul  and  the  reality  that  is  coming,  big  with  still 
invisible  events.^**  This  is  not  quite  the  same  thing  as 
prophetic  foretelling;  it  is  a  sort  of  presentiment  that  the 
possible  is  realisable,  that  it  is  going  to  be  realised,  that  it 
is  already  potentially  realised,  the  feeling  of  a  dynamic 
co-operation  which  is  at  work  on  the  very  line  of  the  desire 
or  the  apprehension  of  the  praying  or  awaiting  individual. 
These  psychic  processes,  which  are  still  wrapped  in  mys- 
tery, place  us  on  the  track  of  a  possible  but  still  unknown 
communication  between  the  individual  soul  and  what  we 
may  call  the  forces  that  lead  the  world.  Interpreted  re- 
ligiously, and  particularly  in  relation  to  the  question  of 
prayer,  they  suggest  a  communication  with  the  Beyond 
which  surpasses  the  limits  of  the  conscious  personality. 
With  most  men  this  communication  remains  vague  and  as 
it  were  stunted.  When  it  manifests  itself  spasmodically, 
it  often  assumes  an  abnormal  and  agonising  character;  as 
a  rule,  there  are  mingled  with  it  more  or  less  morbid  phe- 
nomena that  agitate  us. 

In  Jesus,  who,  in  this  sense,  was  a  religious  genius,  we 
have  seen  that  the  life  with  the  Father  assumed  a  character 
of  peaceful  and  normal  reality  such  as  is  not  to  be  found 
in  any  one  else.  The  communion  with  this  "greater  than 
ourselves"  did  not  appear  to  him  as  anything  exceptional 
and  terrifying,  but  rather  as  the  immutable,  paternal  source 
out  of  which  flowed  at  every  instant  his  own  personal  and 
visible  life.  He  must  have  caught  delicate  nuances  where 
we  can  see  nothing  but  a  stormy  and  shadowy  mystery. 
In  him  there  was  a  realised  harmony  between  the  subcon- 
scious depths  in  which  God  speaks  and  the  clear  reasoning 
consciousness. 

Bearing  in  mind  this  fact,  which  remains  to  be  defined 

2"  Cf.  Myers,  Human  Personality  and  Its  Survival  of  Bodily  Death. 
London  and  Bombay,  1907. 


224  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

and  analysed,  I  arrive  at  the  conclusion  that  Jesus  must 
have  felt,  more  deeply  than  we  and  in  a  much  clearer 
way,  that  the  fulfilment  was  present,  that  the  reality  was 
going  to  respond  to  the  desire.  And  to  speak  more  par- 
ticularly of  the  resuscitations,  he  must  have  felt,  in  certain 
cases,  that  a  personal  intervention  was  necessary,  and  that 
the  life  was  throbbing  just  beyond.  We  know  too  little 
about  what  life  and  death  are  to  solve  the  question.  In 
what  degree  is  death  complete?  Is  it  a  resurrection  when, 
by  artificial  respiration,  we  bring  a  drowned  person  back 
to  life?  Jesus  himself,  in  any  case,  did  not  concern  himself 
v/ith  these  questions.  When  he  felt  impelled  to  intervene, 
he  did  intervene,  with  full  confidence  in  the  inwardly  real- 
ised strength  of  the  Father  who  had  sent  him,  but  he  did 
not  always  intervene,  and  he  never  intervened  when  death 
had  taken  place  too  long  before.^^ 

The  hypothesis  which  I  think  we  have  a  right  to  form 
is,  then,  that  Jesus  only  raised  the  dead  under  certain  con- 
ditions, and  not  always;  that  these  conditions  were  not  re- 
vealed to  him  by  any  external  study  of  the  case,  such  as 
we  should  make,  but  that  the  impulse  took  possession  of 
him  imperatively  when  these  conditions  were  present.  He 
felt  their  efficacy,  without  being  conscious  of  it,  felt  it  as  a 
paternal  grant,  since,  to  a  degree  which  is  unknown  to  us, 
his  inner  self  was  in  communication  with  the  forces  of  life 
that  are  at  work  in  the  world. 

We  refuse,  therefore,  to  see  in  Jesus  the  unfeeling  demi- 
god of  whom  some  people  have  formed  an  image  and  who, 

27  The  four  days  that  Lazarus  passed  in  the  tomb  are  reduced  to 
three  by  our  present  method  of  reckoning.  There  is  no  reason  to 
suppose  that  Jesus  ever  attempted  to  resuscitate  persons  who  had  been 
dead  for  a  considerable  period.  Why,  unless  because  certain  condi- 
tions, such  as  the  decomposition  of  the  body,  opposed  this  and  because 
Jesus  was  aware  of  these  conditions  and  submitted  intuitively  and  in- 
stinctively to  them?  When  it  was  night  for  him  he  did  not  walk 
(John  xi,  lo). 


THE  MIRACLES  225 

in  possession  of  a  discretionary  power  over  life  and  death, 
chose  a  few  striking  cases  for  the  purpose  of  showing  his 
power,  while  he  coldly  allowed  the  rest  of  his  contempo- 
raries to  die.  Rather,  far  rather,  we  see  in  him  the  com- 
passionate Saviour  who  shed  the  tears  of  a  friend  over 
the  grief  of  the  two  sisters  of  Bethany,  the  submissive  Son 
of  the  Father,  hoping  everything  of  the  Father,  and  going, 
when  he  had  obtained  his  leave,  to  give  consolation  where 
it  was  possible  to  give  consolation,  where  God  had  permitted 
life  and  given  an  assurance  of  it. 

Here  no  more  than  elsewhere,  then,  do  we  deny  the  mirac- 
ulous. We  bow  before  the  divine  mystery  which,  through 
Jesus,  descended  into  the  hearts  of  men.  All  that  we  are 
opposing  is  the  magically  miraculous,  this  and  the  magician 
into  which  people  have  tried  to  turn  Jesus;  we  oppose 
that  unworthy,  that  lamentable  counterfeit  of  the  ineffable 
things  which,  through  him,  the  Father  has  communicated 
and  continues  to  communicate  to  those  who  follow  the  paths, 
not  of  charlatanism,  but  of  the  moral  conscience. 

§  4.     MIRACLES   OF   WHICH    THE   MORAL   MEANING   IS 
DIFFICULT    TO    GRASP 

We  shall  not  linger  long  over  this  class  of  miracles,  of 
which  some  of  the  circumstances  are  unknown  to  us  and 
the  edifying  significance  remains  veiled.  Such,  for  example, 
are  the  episode  of  the  marriage  at  Cana  and  that  of  the 
cursed  fig-tree. 

This  latter  anecdote,  in  which  Jesus  says  to  a  fig-tree 
upon  which  he  has  found  no  fruit,  and  this  at  a  season 
when  figs  are  not  ripe,  "Let  no  fruit  grown  on  thee  hence- 
forward for  ever,"  is  most  curious  and  disconcerting.^* 
Perhaps  the  thing  to  do  here  would  be  to  employ  the  sym- 

28  Matt,  xxi,  18-22;  Mark  xi,  13-19. 


226  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

holistic  method  and  ask  whether  we  are  not  confronted 
with  a  parable  uttered  on  some  occasion  by  Jesus  and 
transformed  later,  owing  to  some  confusion,  into  a  narra- 
tion of  facts.  This  is  the  more  plausible  since  the  parable 
exists  in  the  text  of  Luke  (xiii,  6-9),  or  at  least  a  parable 
resembling  it,  while  Matthew  (xxiv,  32)  attributes  to  Jesus 
a  saying  which  makes  the  fig-tree  the  symbol  of  the  ap- 
proaching advent  of  the  Messiah.  It  would  thus  be  quite 
natural  that  on  another  occasion,  chancing  to  find  a  barren 
fig-tree,  he  should  have  compared  it  to  the  withering  of 
those  who  lack  faith  and  cannot  see  the  signs  of  the  times. 
The  disciples,  misinterpreting  his  severe  words,  might  have 
supposed  that  the  reprimand  was  addressed  to  the  fig-tree 
itself,  just  as,  on  another  occasion,  they  thought  that  the 
words  of  the  Master  about  the  "leaven  of  the  Pharisees" 
were  a  reproach  addressed  to  them  because  they  had  for- 
gotten to  bring  the  bread  for  the  journey  they  were  mak- 
ing.'^ 

As  for  the  marriage  at  Cana,  I  confess  I  can  make  little 
of  it.  Was  it  a  simple  gift  which  Jesus  made  to  a  family 
of  whom  he  was  fond  and  which  was  later  transformed  and 
embellished  by  the  legend?  Shall  we  discover  some  day  a 
definite  meaning  in  this  event,  a  meaning  that  now  escapes 
us?  We  must  be  able  to  suspend  our  judgment  and  wait 
patiently.  Wisdom  does  not  always  consist  in  answering 
questions.  Here  it  must  be  admitted  that  perplexity  is 
permissible. 

What  conclusion  are  we  to  draw  from  this  rapid  exami- 
nation of  a  few  miracles,  an  examination  that  must  obviously 
be  carried  much  further  into  detail?  On  the  whole,  it 
leads  us  back,  as  does  the  study  of  the  teaching  of  Christ, 
to  the  moral  personality  oj  Jesus.  At  bottom,  it  is  in  him- 
self, in  his  presence,  in  his  activity  that  the  great  miracle 

29  Cf.  Mark  viii,  14-18. 


THE  MIRACLES  227 

lies.  The  impression  which  he  produced  upon  his  hearers 
personally  is  at  the  centre  of  all  these  accounts  in  which, 
beneath  the  physical  marvels,  there  is  always  concealed  a 
profound  and  decisive  psychic  action.  Whatever  extraor- 
dinary things  the  witnesses  saw  in  this  unique  life  they 
saw  because  they  were  impressed  in  an  even  more  ex- 
traordinary manner  in  their  inner  selves;  this  disturbance 
of  their  whole  ego  communicated  itself,  as  it  always  does, 
to  their  senses  and  coloured  the  physical  reality  with  the 
hues  of  the  moral  and  psychic  universe  which  was  suddenly 
revealed  to  them.  The  truth  of  Man,  the  human  truth, 
seized  upon  them  suddenly  and  revealed  God  to  them  as 
close  beside  them.  The  grip  of  this  unexpected  revelation 
transformed  the  world  in  their  eyes,  and  the  new  reality 
took  on  for  them  that  touch  of  the  marvellous  which  is 
called  the  miraculous. 

It  does  not  diminish  these  things  to  attempt  to  see  them 
in  their  inwardness.  The  false  glory  that  we  have  been 
accustomed  to  see  in  them  may  be  a  little  tarnished  per- 
haps, but  the  real  gold  they  contain  only  shines  the  more 
splendidly.  After  all,  it  is  life  alone  that  matters;  and 
the  activity  of  Jesus  had  but  this  one  end,  to  bring  new 
lives  to  birth.  Of  this  miracle,  incessantly  repeated,  we 
perceive  in  the  accounts  that  we  have  studied  the  exterior 
echo  and  as  it  were  the  fugitive  reflection  in  the  world  of 
the  senses. 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE  TRANSFIGURATION 

The  scene  of  the  Transfiguration  occupies  a  place  apart 
in  the  life  of  Jesus.  It  cannot  be  considered  as  on  the  same 
plane  as  the  miracles,  since  it  is  an  example,  as  Strauss  very 
justly  observes,  of  a  miracle  performed  in  Jesus  and  not  by 
him.  It  is  related  to  the  others,  however,  by  the  external 
character  of  the  marvellous  which  it  bears.  What  are  we  to 
think  of  it? 

Three  explanations  of  it  have  been  given. 

1.  The  mythical  explanation,  advanced  particularly  by 
Strauss,  but  also  accepted  by  other  theologians,  Weisse, 
Keim,  etc.  The  scene  was  a  pure  invention  put  together 
in  the  image  of  the  traditional  statements  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment in  order  to  place  Jesus  in  the  direct  line  of  tradition 
and  show  him  as  fulfilling  it. 

2.  Others  see  in  it  the  account  of  a  dream  of  the  dis- 
ciples, or  of  one  of  them;  this  is  the  opinion  of  Neander. 

3.  Finally,  it  has  been  thought  that  the  Transfiguration 
was  a  simple  vision  granted  to  the  apostles  in  order  to 
strengthen  their  faith.  That  had  been  the  idea  of  Ter- 
tullian;  later  it  was  shared  by  Herder,  then  by  Reuss  and 
Weiss. 

There  is  probably  an  element  of  truth  in  each  of  these 
opinions.  The  mistake  comes  as  a  rule  from  trying  to 
reduce  things  to  a  theory  and  thus  unify  them  all. 

There  are  three  points  to  be  considered  in  the  story  which 
the  first  three  evangehsts  have  handed  down  to  us:  ^  the, 

1  Matt,  xvii,  1-13;  Mark  ix,  2-13;  Luke  ix,  28-36. 

228 


THE  TRANSFIGURATION  229 

radiance  or  the  glory  of  Christ,  the  apparition  of  the  two 
personages,  the  voice  that  came  out  of  the  cloud. 

First,  however,  let  us  locate  the  event.  If  we  are  to 
accept  the  general  opinion,  it  took  place  at  a  most  important 
moment  in  the  life  of  Jesus.  It  was  shortly  after  the  scene 
at  Caesarea  Philippi  when  Peter,  questioned  by  the  Master, 
permitted  to  escape  from  his  heart  that  confession  which 
was  so  full  of  enthusiasm  and  conviction:  ''Thou  art  the 
Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God."  -  Jesus  had  trembled 
with  spiritual  joy  upon  hearing  these  words  which,  for  him, 
were  the  proof  of  a  result  that  was  henceforth  assured.  His 
apostles  had  at  last  recognised  him  and  embraced  him;  they 
were  on  solid  ground;  they  believed.  In  the  face  of  this 
faithful  little  group  whom  he  had  definitely  won  there  was 
the  mounting  opposition.  Jesus  realised  whither  it  was 
tending;  he  knew  that  nothing  could  stop  it  in  its  sinister 
work,  and  he  told  his  own  followers  of  the  sufferings,  the 
passion  that  awaited  him.  It  was  at  this  psychological 
moment  that  the  scene  of  the  Transfiguration  took  place. 

But  in  opposition  to  this  a  new  idea  has  been  advanced 
by  the  recent  works  of  Wrede,  namely,  that  the  Trans- 
figuration took  place  not  after  but  before  the  scene  at 
Caesarea  Philippi.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  accounts  given 
by  Mark,  in  Chapters  VI  to  IX,  present  the  greatest  con- 
fusion, and  it  would  be  more  easily  explicable  if  the  scene 
at  Caesarea  Philippi  were  a  consequence  of  that  of  the 
Transfiguration  and  of  the  revelation  which  the  disciples 
(and  especially  Peter)  had  had  there,  in  a  moment  of 
ecstasy,  of  the  Messiahship  of  Jesus.  If  this  were  so  we 
should  also  be  able  to  understand  more  clearly  the  reply  of 
Jesus  to  Peter's  confession,  "Blessed  art  thou,  Simon  Bar- 
jona:  for  flesh  and  blood  hath  not  revealed  it  unto  thee, 
but  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven."    Jesus  had  not  intended 

2  Matt,  xvi,  13-28;  Mark  viii,  27-32;  Luke  ix,  18-22. 


230  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

to  say  that  he  was  the  Messiah;  he  had  even  forbidden  his 
disciples  to  do  so  as  they  descended  from  the  mount  of  the 
Transfiguration.  But  Peter  had  broken  the  prohibition. 
Whatever  we  are  to  think  on  this  point,  it  does  not  in  any 
way  alter  the  psychological  situation.  On  the  one  hand, 
Jesus  was  aware  of  the  sufferings  that  v^^ere  in  store  for 
him,  and  on  the  other  he  saw  himself  loved  and  believed 
in  by  his  followers.  His  own  state  of  mind  was  the  same, 
whether  the  confession  of  Peter  had  taken  place  before  the 
Transfiguration  or  whether  it  had  not  yet  been  openly 
uttered.  And  we  can  easily  imagine  what  this  state  of  mind 
was.  Jesus  was  confronted  with  these  two  realities:  on  the 
one  hand,  the  success  of  his  message  among  his  own  fol- 
lowers, the  growing  conviction  in  their  hearts  which  cor- 
roborated his  own  conviction,  and  on  the  other  the  hostile 
attitude  of  the  majority  of  the  people  and  their  leaders, 
the  evident  rejection  of  his  message  on  the  part  of  the 
official  authorities,  and  consequently  the  certainty  of  im- 
minent sufferings  and  perhaps  the  death  which  was  indeed 
awaiting  him. 

How  can  we  doubt  that  at  this  moment  he  felt  the  need 
of  retirement  and  solitude  on  the  heights  in  the  great  silence 
of  the  mountain?  On  one  side  he  had  received  a  sovereign 
consecration  from  On  High,  the  seal  that  had  been  placed 
upon  his  work  by  the  Father  in  the  faith  of  the  humble 
whom  he  loved  and  to  whom  he  had  given  himself;  on  the 
other,  a  cloudy  and  threatening  future  was  emerging  over 
the  nearby  horizon.  Under  such  conditions  the  hours  of 
introversion,  of  a  return  upon  oneself,  assume  a  keen  and 
poignant  character  which  readily  gives  birth  to  ecstasy. 

Now,  on  the  mountain  Jesus  is  in  prayer.  And  it  is 
while  he  is  praying  that  the  disciples,  awakened  suddenly, 
see  him  shining  with  an  unaccustomed  light.  "His  face  did 
shine  as  the  sun,  and  his  raiment  was  white  as  the  light" 


THE  TRANSFIGURATION  231 

(Matt.).  "His  raiment  became  shining,  exceeding  white  as 
snow;  so  as  no  fuller  on  earth  can  white  them"  (Mark). 
'The  fashion  of  his  countenance  was  altered,  and  his  raiment 
was  white  and  glistening"  (Luke).  Beneath  these  expres- 
sions, which,  since  they  do  not  exactly  agree,  we  are  not 
obliged  to  take  literally,  we  must  note  the  impression  expe- 
rienced by  the  disciples.  Aroused  from  sleep,  in  that  state 
in  which  our  waking  life  is  scarcely  to  be  distinguished  from 
our  dreams,  they  suddenly  see  their  Master  in  ecstasy,  and 
the  brilliance,  the  splendour  of  his  face  and  person  strike 
them  acutely. 

Strauss  recalls  here  the  story  of  Moses,  of  whom  we  are 
told  that  "the  skin  of  his  face  shone"  because  he  had  talked 
with  God,^  and  he  concludes  from  this  that  the  Transfigura- 
tion is  simply  a  mythical  creation.  Strauss  was  quite  right 
in  thinking  of  Moses,  but  his  mistake  lay  in  limiting  his 
inquiry  to  the  Israeli tish  past;  he  should  have  prolonged  it 
into  the  history  that  followed  the  Christian  era.  Moses  is 
not  the  only  man  of  whom  we  are  told  that  his  face  shone 
when  he  talked  with  God.  What  is  the  source,  for  instance, 
of  the  aureole  which  primitive  painting  places  about  the 
heads  of  the  saints?  Of  the  crown  of  rays  with  which  the 
heads  of  certain  gods  are  adorned?  Is  it  not  told  somewhere 
of  Saint  Francis  of  Assisi  that  his  disciples  used  to  look 
through  the  key-hole  of  his  cell  when  the  saint  was  in  prayer 
in  order  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  marvellous  radiance  of 
his  ecstatic  countenance? 

The  phenomenon  is  therefore  not  unique.  We  speak 
every  day  of  faces  "hghted  up  by  intense  emotion."  We 
have  only  to  carry  this  to  the  sublime  and  remember  that 
Jesus  was  Jesus;  then,  if  we  allow  for  the  exaggerations  of 
language  and  the  uncertainty  of  the  impressions  of  men  who 
have  just  emerged  from  sleep,  what  will  remain  is  the 

3  Exodus  xxxiv,  29  and  35. 


232  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

splendid  vision  that  was  granted  to  these  men,  the  vision 
of  Christ  in  prayer,  in  the  imposing  silence  of  the  moun- 
tain. They  were  present  perhaps  at  the  moment,  of  all 
moments  the  most  solemn,  when  Jesus,  fully  conscious  of 
the  two  currents  that  heightened  his  existence  and  swept  it 
along — the  triumphant  love  of  the  Father  which  gave  him 
courage,  and  his  tragic  rejection  by  the  world  which  was 
leading  him  to  his  death — accepted  them  both,  united  and 
reconciled  them  in  a  submission  that  was  also  a  triumph. 
He  was,  at  that  instant,  one  with  the  Father;  he  drank  deep 
of  the  spring  of  love  from  On  High,  and  his  countenance 
reflected  this  infinite  ecstasy.* 

But  all  at  once  the  scene  changes.    One  gains  the  impres- 
sion from  the  accounts  themselves  that  something  sudden 

■*  When  modern  theologians,  referring  to  the  prevailing  eschatology, 
speak  of  the  predictions  of  his  death  which  Jesus  made  after  this  scene 
and  distinguish  between  a  dogmatic  necessity  for  this  death  which 
Jesus  felt  and  a  histonco-empirical  necessit}'  which  he  did  not  feel 
(Schweitzer,  op.  cit.,  p.  439)  they  show  to  what  a  point  of  psycho- 
logical blindness  purely  historical  conceptions  can  lead.  It  is  plain 
that  Jesus  was  greatly  influenced  by  the  eschatological  conceptions  of 
his  times  and  by  the  image  that  Isaiah  called  up  of  the  Messiah  dying 
alone  for  others.  But  how  little  one  must  know  about  the  nature  of 
great  souls  and  the  struggles  of  flesh  and  blood  to  believe  that  Jesus 
could  have  coolly  faced  the  necessity  of  dying  as  the  prophets  had 
predicted  if  no  other  historical  or  existing  facts,  no  concrete  reality, 
had  pointed  to  the  same  thing !  These  ideas  are  not  of  the  sort  one 
accepts  so  easily  when  one  is  a  living  man  !  Jesus  had  been  familiar 
with  them  for  a  long  time,  but  he  had  not  applied  them  literally  to 
himself.  It  was  when  he  heard  the  Father's  call,  in  events,  on  the 
one  hand,  and  on  the  other  in  his  obligation,  that  he  joined  the  two 
ends  of  the  chain :  messianic  prophecy  and  death.  The  Transfiguration 
took  place  perhaps  at  this  moment,  a  moment  that  was  solemn  and 
tragic  above  all  others.  Plainly,  as  Schweitzer  says,  he  might  have 
returned  to  Galilee  and  found  once  more  a  sympathetic  multitude  there 
instead  of  going  up  to  Jerusalem.  But  from  the  fact  that  he  did  not 
do  so,  is  it  necessary  to  infer  a  dogmatic  will  to  die?  May  we  not  sup- 
pose that  in  a  soul  such  as  that  of  Jesus  there  existed  a  tormenting 
desire  to  win  over  his  people  in  the  person  of  their  leaders  and  that 
he  had  reached  a  time  when  he  could  no  longer  be  morally  contented 
with  a  peaceful,  tranqiiil  ministry  in  the  Galilean  countryside?  The 
problem  is,  in  any  case,  of  quite  a  different  moral,  psychological  and 
religious  order  and  is  much  vaster  than  the  theologians  imagine,  hypno- 
tised as  they  are  by  the  eschatological  solution  which  they  have  substi-' 
tuted  for  the  excgetical  solution. 


THE  TRANSFIGURATION  233 

and  unexpected  has  taken  place.  Jesus  is  no  longer  alone, 
and  he  is  no  longer  in  prayer.  Two  personages  have  ap- 
peared and  he  is  talking  with  them.  In  actuality  things 
do  not  happen  in  this  way.  We  see  people  coming  before 
they  arrive.  On  the  other  hand,  a  prayer  is  not  succeeded 
by  conversation  without  intermediate  phases;  people  are 
surprised,  they  are  disturbed  when  they  are  interrupted  in 
their  prayers;  they  rise,  they  change  their  attitude. 

The  absence  of  any  transition  in  the  story,  without  any 
indication  that  the  narrators  are  aware  of  the  deficiency, 
seems  to  show  that,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  they  had  no  sus- 
picion that  two  scenes  had  taken  place.  This  might  mean 
simply  that  the  disciples,  "heavy  with  sleep,"  as  Luke 
says  they  were,  and  striving  to  keep  awake,  saw  the  second 
part  of  the  scene  in  that  state  of  half-dreaming  in  which 
one  still  perceives  the  sensations  that  reach  one  from  with- 
out, but  perceives  them  in  a  changed  shape,  causing  them 
to  enter  as  constituent  elements  into  the  dream,  which  con- 
tinues.^ Of  Moses  and  Elias  the  apostles  have  just  been 
thinking;  they  are  the  forerunners  of  the  Messiah,  and 
it  is  precisely  with  the  messiahship  of  their  Master  that 
their  minds  have  been  filled  during  the  preceding  days.  It 
is,  at  the  moment,  the  subconscious  web  which  underlies  all 
the  events  of  their  conscious  life.  This  ruling  thought  of 
the  messiahship  has  attracted  to  itself  and  grouped  about 
it  everything  that  is  associated  with  it  in  their  subconscious, 
including  the  images  of  Moses  and  Elias.  How  can  it 
astonish  us  that,  in  the  half-dream  which  immediately  fol- 
lows the  brief  vision  of  the  Transfigured  Master,  they 
should  see  him  flanked  by  the  two  personages  whom  every 
good  Jew  associated  intimately  with  the  glorious  Messiah, 


5  In  connection  with  this  state  and  the  so-called  hypnagogical  and 
hypnopompical  visions  which  characterise  it,  see  Myers,  Human  Per- 
sonality.   London,  1907,  p.  96. 


234  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

and  that  they  should  awake  with  a  start  to  see  them  dis- 
appearing in  the  cloud  that  floated  about  them? 

This  explanation  is  corroborated  by  the  incident  that  fol- 
lows. We  observe  that  as  they  descend  the  mountain  the 
disciples  ask  Jesus  this  question:  "Why  then  say  the  scribes 
that  Elias  must  first  come?"  ^  Evidently  they  have  no 
very  distinct  impression  of  having  actually  seen  Elias;  there 
is  an  uncertainty  in  their  minds  as  to  what  they  have  wit- 
nessed. 

As  for  Jesus,  he  replies  that  Elias  has  already  come  and 
that  they  have  known  him  not,  but  have  done  unto  him 
whatsoever  they  listed;  and  from  his  allusions,  the  disciples 
understand  that  he  is  speaking  to  them  of  John  the  Baptist, 
that  he  is  likening  John  the  Baptist  to  Elias,  who  was  to 
return  before  the  coming  of  the  Messiah.'^  But  at  this 
moment,  Jesus  does  not  even  mention  the  immediately  pre- 
ceding apparition  of  Elias  which  is  involved  in  the  story 
of  the  Transfiguration,  thus  showing  plainly  that  he  has 
not  seen  this  apparition.  It  is  difficult  to  understand  how, 
if  he  had  participated  in  the  vision  of  the  apostles,  he  could 
have  failed  to  connect  or  to  distinguish  between  the  two 
facts  of  the  presence  of  the  prophet  Elias  on  the  moun- 
tain at  the  moment  of  the  Transfiguration  and  the  identity 
of  Elias  and  John  the  Baptist.  If  the  expected  Elias  is 
John  the  Baptist,  who  is  it  then  that  has  just  appeared? 
There  is  here  a  quid  pro  quo  so  enormous  that  Jesus  could 
not  but  have  felt  the  necessity  of  dissipating  it.  And  as 
he  is  not  conscious  of  it,  he  cannot  have  seen  what  the 
disciples  believed  they  saw.  The  apparition  of  Elias  has 
been  a  vision  of  the  apostles  alone;  and  Jesus,  in  answer- 
ing them,  leads  them  into  a  line  of  ideas  that  is  entirely 
different  from  their  own  because  he  is  not  aware  of  what 

6  Matt,  xvii,  lo;  Mark  ix,  ii. 

7  Matt,  xvii,  11-13;  Mark  ix,  12-13. 


THE  TRANSFIGURATION  235 

they  have  just  seen.  Still  quivering  with  their  intense, 
superstitious  emotion,  the  apostles  speak  of  the  heavenly 
Elias  who  has  been  there  but  an  instant  before.  For  Jesus, 
on  the  contrary,  the  expected  Elias  is  not  an  ancient  prophet 
come  down  from  heaven,  but  simply  John  the  Baptist. 
There  is  no  common  measure  between  the  two  conceptions. 

It  remains  to  speak  of  the  voice  which  is  heard:  "This 
is  my  beloved  Son,  in  whom  I  am  well  pleased;  hear  ye 
him."  ®  Three  times  in  the  gospels  a  voice  rings  out  and 
bears  witness  in  favour  of  Christ:  at  the  moment  of  the 
Baptism,  at  the  moment  when  Jesus  declares  to  the  Greeks 
who  have  had  Philip  present  them  to  him,  that  "except  a 
corn  of  wheat  fall  into  the  ground  and  die,  it  abideth 
alone,"  ^  and  after  the  Transfiguration.  Now,  it  is  to  be 
noted  that,  on  all  these  three  occasions,  Jesus  happens  to 
be  in  a  morally  analogous  situation:  on  one  side  there  is 
a  strong  solicitation  to  act,  a  call  in  the  direction  of  ministry 
and  service,  a  summons  to  life  and  a  promise  of  life,  and 
on  the  other  a  renunciation,  a  call  to  humiliation,  an  ex- 
pectant sense  of  the  sufferings  that  lie  before  him.  On  all 
three  occasions  he  accepts  the  continuation  of  the  service 
that  carries  with  it  the  joy  of  success  and  the  sufferings 
together,  and  he  unites  this  joy  and  these  sufferings  in  a 
tragic  embrace  in  which  life  surmounts  every  antithesis. 
While,  however,  at  the  time  of  the  Baptism  and  in  the  peri- 
cope  John  xii,  it  appears  that  the  voice  is  heard  by  Christ 
alone,  on  this  occasion  it  is  heard  by  the  disciples;  it  is, 
as  it  were,  a  testimony  perceptible  to  the  others. 

If  we  are  to  suppose  that  the  word  of  God  is  not  some- 
thing external  but  a  silent  witness  which  man  interprets 
under  the  form  of  a  voice  (and  it  certainly  seems  as  if 
we  must  so  regard  it)  then  we  must  conclude  that,  in  that 

8  Matt,  xvii,  5 ;  Mark  ix,  7 ;  Luke  ix,  35. 

9  John  xii,  28. 


236  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

unforgettable  moment  when  they  saw  Jesus  in  prayer,  the 
disciples  caught,  in  the  radiance  of  his  features  and  his 
glance,  an  irrefutable  testimony  to  what  he  was.  As  never 
before,  they  felt  that  he  was  the  son  of  God;  they  felt 
God  saying  to  them,  "This  is  my  son!"  just  as  we  sometimes 
feel,  in  an  hour  of  communion  with  an  elevated  and  ten- 
derly loved  soul,  a  sort  of  testimony  rising  from  the  depths 
of  life  that  consecrates  the  esteem  and  veneration  we  feel 
for  this  soul,  gives  our  feelings  the  stamp  of  truth  and 
sanctions  them,  so  to  speak,  in  our  own  eyes.  These  divine 
consecrations  occur  that  mark  the  life  of  our  affections  and 
give  them  their  full  value.  To  one  who  met  Jesus  along 
the  roads  of  the  world,  it  would  have  been  impossible  not  to 
experience  them;  and  with  what  power  must  they  have 
affected  those  who  loved  him  and  followed  him  so  closely! 

The  Transfiguration  appears  to  us,  then,  as  a  capital 
moment  in  the  life  of  Christ:  the  moment  in  which,  having 
attained  to  a  full  consciousness  of  the  two  great  movements 
that  swept  his  earthly  existence  along  (the  conquest  of 
hearts,  the  resistance  of  the  world),  and  having  experienced 
their  violence  and  discerned  what  their  end  would  be,  he 
accepted  them  both  and  consecrated  himself,  entirely  and 
anew,  in  a  supreme  act  of  affirmation,  to  the  gift  of  himself 
in  love.  In  an  instant  of  ecstasy,  after  the  experiences  of 
an  already  advanced  ministry,  and  without  abandoning  any- 
thing that  he  had  undertaken,  he  had,  so  to  speak,  renewed, 
in  the  arms  of  the  Father,  his  pledge  of  service  to  hu- 
manity. 

The  disciples,  profoundly  moved  by  the  announcement 
he  had  made  to  them  of  his  sufferings,  or  by  what  they 
half  divined  about  them,  overborne  by  fatigue  and  emotion, 
disturbed  in  their  half-slumber  by  these  new  and  vivid  im- 
pressions, saw  Jesus,  as  if  in  a  flash  of  lightning,  at  the 
highest  moment  of  this  consecration  in  which  he  was  offer- 


THE  TRANSFIGURATION  237 

ing  himself  entirely.  This  spectacle,  mingling  with  the  as- 
sociations of  traditional  ideas  which  the  subconscious  caused 
to  spring  up  in  the  state  of  half-sleep  in  which  they  were 
plunged,  composed  the  scene  that  has  been  handed  down 
to  us,  in  which  the  marvellous  borders  on  the  sublime. 
Perhaps  the  miracle  is  to  be  found  not  so  much  where 
people  have  sought  it  as  in  the  sublimity  of  the  person  of 
Jesus  himself;  and  the  terror  which  the  disciples  felt  was 
that  of  the  sacred  hour  that  had  been  passed  in  the  midst 
of  them  and  that  had  been  but  half  revealed  to  them.  It 
left  them  with  a  firmer  conviction,  with  an  unlimited  trust, 
no  doubt,  in  this  mysterious  "greater"  being  who  was  now 
descending  with  them  to  the  inhabited  regions  where  men 
suffer  and  die. 


CHAPTER  VII 
THE  PERSONALITY  OF  JESUS 

We  have  attempted  to  indicate  the  scope  of  the  teaching 
and  activity  of  Jesus,  what  he  wished  to  do  and  how  he 
accomplished  it,  disregarding,  as  far  as  possible,  everything 
that  is  commonly  known  about  him  and  applying  ourselves 
rather  to  pointing  out  what  constitutes  the  originality  of 
his  doctrine  and  his  personality.  It  was  difficult,  in  these 
conditions,  to  adopt  a  strictly  historical  scheme  and  give 
a  conspectus  of  the  gradual  development  through  his  life 
of  his  ideas  and  teaching.  It  is  obvious  that  Jesus  lived 
in  too  close  a  contact  with  reality,  whether  spiritual  or 
external,  not  to  have  taken  the  stamp  of  life.  He  accepted 
the  education  which  the  Father  gives  men  through  the 
continual  cross-action  of  inner  experience  and  external 
facts;  he  did  not  shrink  from  the  upward  struggle  that 
every  well-lived  life  implies  and  imposes.  It  should  be 
possible,  therefore,  to  discover  an  evolution  in  the  ideas 
of  Jesus  during  the  course  of  his  career,  by  which  we 
mean  not  that  there  was  any  indecision  in  regard  to  the 
goal  which  he  pursued,  but  that  his  aims  underwent  a 
successive  and  progressive  definition,  that  he  had  an  ever 
clearer  and  more  conscious  grasp  of  his  own  significance, 
of  his  task  and  of  the  role  of  his  personality.  It  would 
be  interesting  to  follow  him  from  this  point  of  view  through 
the  years  of  his  ministry.  Others  have  done  this.  We 
cannot  linger  over  it. 

Gathering  together  all  the  data  we  have  acquired,  we 
should  like  to  take  up  now  the  problem  of  the  personality 
of  Christ  himself.    What  did  he  desire  to  be?     What  was 

238 


THE  PERSONALITY  OF  JESUS  239 

he?  In  short,  what  is  it  that  constitutes  the  very  basis 
and  originality  of  his  personalit}',  what  the  Germans  call 
his  Selbstbewusstsein,  his  consciousness  of  himself?  In 
order  to  understand  him  we  must  return  to  some  of  the 
points  on  which  we  have  already  touched  and  attempt  to 
carry  further,  or  rather  deeper,  the  lines  that  we  have 
traced. 

Professor  Bousset  of  Gottingen  has  attacked  this  prob- 
lem/ He  begins  by  stating  it  as  a  fact  that  Jesus  did 
indeed  wish  to  be  the  Messiah  of  his  people.  Even  if  some 
of  the  passages  on  which  one  has  to  rely  to  sustain  this 
opinion  present  difficulties  from  the  critical  point  of  view, 
we  are  still  at  a  loss  to  understand  how  the  Christian  com- 
munity could  have  arrived  at  this  conclusion  after  the  Res- 
urrection unless  something  in  the  words  and  the  teaching 
of  Jesus  had  led  them  to  it.  At  the  end  of  his  life,  in  any 
case,  Jesus  certainly  wished  to  make  his  entry  into  Jeru- 
salem as  the  Messiah,  and  he  was  condemned  as  a  false 
Messiah.  The  inscription  that  Pontius  Pilate  caused  to 
be  fastened  upon  the  cross  corroborates  this.  It  bore  the 
words,  "Jesus,  King  of  the  Jews." 

From  what  moment  are  we  to  date  this  consciousness  of 
his  Messiahship?  There  is  general  agreement  in  admitting 
that  he  referred  to  it  openly  to  his  disciples,  enjoining  them 
to  silence,  after  the  scene  at  Caesarea  Philippi  when  Peter 
made  his  celebrated  confession,  "Thou  art  the  Messiah, 
the  son  of  the  living  God."  But  in  the  Tight  of  what  we 
have  said  on  the  subject  of  the  Baptism  and  the  Temptation, 
it  seems  clear  that  Jesus,  in  some  sense  or  other,  felt  that 
he  was  the  Messiah  and  the  son  of  God  from  the  very 
beginning  of  his  public  career. 

How  are  we  to  reconcile  this  tardy  revelation  of  his  role 

1  See  in  his  Jesus,  in  the  collection  of  Rcligionsgeschichfliche  Volks- 
biicher,  the  final  chapter  entitled  "The  Secret  of  the  Personality." 


240  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

and  his  conviction  to  his  disciples  with  the  relatively  pre- 
cocious knowledge  which  he  had  of  his  Messiahship?  It 
is  here  that  Bousset  seems  to  me  to  have  laid  his  finger 
on  the  critical  spot.  "We  can  only  find  the  reply  [to  this 
question]/'  he  says,  "in  one  direction.  Jesus  himself  was 
confronted  here  with  an  insurmountable  inner  difficulty. 
He  was  dominated  by  a  profound  and  immediate  sense  of 
the  inadequacy  of  the  title  of  Messiah  to  express  what  he 
was  in  the  depths  of  his  own  consciousness.  The  idea  of 
the  Messiah  forms  a  part  of  the  national  hope  and  the 
national  religion  of  Judaism.  The  popular  Jewish  hope 
looked  for  a  king  sent  by  God  and  of  the  race  of  David 
who,  as  a  powerful  chief  with  sword  in  hand,  would  smite 
the  Gentiles,  annihilate  Rome,  proclaim  his  dominion  over 
the  world  at  Jerusalem,  and  then,  upheld  by  the  spirit  of 
God,  reign  henceforth  with  wisdom  and  gentleness  over 
the  faithful  and  the  submissive  Gentiles,  Even  when  this 
king  was  conceived  as  super-terrestrial,  and  people  no  longer 
expected  a  Messiah  who  would  be  the  son  of  David,  but 
thought  of  him  as  a  miraculous  being  coming  from  the 
heavens  as  a  judge  of  the  world  and  clad  in  a  divine  dig- 
nity, he  still  remained  the  national  king  who  was  to  destroy 
the  Gentiles.  How  foreign  was  this  form  of  hope,  per- 
meated throughout  with  a  passionate  national  fanaticism, 
to  the  inner  being  and  the  nature  of  Jesus!  .  .  .^  The  title 
of  Messiah  thus  became  a  danger  if  it  was  allowed  to  stand 
for  the  expression  of  his  inner  being,  his  deepest  person- 
ality." 

Why  then,  it  will  be  asked,  did  he  not  reject  this  mes- 
sianic idea  altogether?     Bousset  answers:  "Because  it  was 

2  It  may  be  remarked  here  fhat  the  desire  to  respond  to  the  national 
hope  in  its  existing  form  constituted  one  of  the  temptations  of  Christ. 
Rejected  at  the  outset,  it  must  have  accompanied  him  and  incessantly 
renewed  itself  in  his  contact  with  a  people  that  frankly  looked  for 
this  Messiah  and  could  not  understand  him  otherwise  than  in  this 
form. 


THE  PERSONALITY  OF  JESUS  241 

necessary  on  another  side,  namely,  if  he  wished  to  make 
himself  understood  by  his  people.  He  felt  that  he  was 
more  than  a  prophet;  he  felt  in  himself  the  pressure  of 
something  extraordinary  and  unique;  he  had  come  to  an- 
nounce the  approaching  kingdom  of  God.  And  according 
to  the  popular  conceptions,  this  advent  was  unthinkable 
without  the  Messiah;  his  place  was  thus  appointed.  Jesus 
could  not  be  content  with  the  role  of  a  forerunner.  He; 
/felt  himself  in  a  proximity  to  God  the  Father  such  as  no 
|one,  either  before  or  after  him,  has  known.  He  was  aware 
that  he  was  pronouncing  the  ultimate  and  decisive  word; 
he  was  the  fulfilment,  and  no  one  was  coming  after  him. 
The  certitude  and  the  power  of  his  activity,  the  radiant; 
splendour,  the  clarity  and  the  freshness  of  his  whole  being 
nested  on  this  foundation. 'One  cannot  separate  this  super- 
prophetic  consciousness,  this  consciousness  of  being  the  one 
who  has  come  to  fulfil,  from  the  image  of  his  person  with- 
out compromising  it.  And  when  Jesus  wished  to  bring  this 
consciousness  into  the  light,  to  bring  it  to  certitude,  when 
he  wished  to  give  it  expression  and  form,  the  only  avenue 
that  lay  open  before  him  in  his  environment  was  the  idea 
of  the  Messiah,  the  apparition  of  the  king  who  fulfils  at  the  . 
\end  of  time. 

"Thus  the  idea  of  the  Messiah  was  for  Jesus  the  only 
possible  form  of  his  consciousness,  and  yet  an  incomplete 
form,  a  necessity,  and  a  heavy  yoke  as  well,  under  which 
he  walked  silently  almost  to  the  end  of  his  life;  a  testimony 
giving  to  him  the  inward  secret  of  his  being  which,  at  the 
same  time,  surrounded  him  with  insoluble  external  diffi- 
culties." ^ 

If  Jesus  wished  to  be  the  Messiah,  then,  it  was  not  for 
the  sake  of  being  the  Messiah,  but  because  it  was  the  only 
means  of  presenting  himself  personally  to  his  people  in  such 

3  The  italics  are  ours. 


242  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

a  way  that  the  people  would  give  him  their  attention  or 
take  any  interest  in  him,  the  only  means,  consequently,  by 
which  he  could  be  useful  to  them. 

One  of  the  consecrated  messianic  titles  enabled  him  im- 
mediately to  define  what  he  wished  to  bring,  and  this  was 
the  one  he  chose:  the  Son  of  Man.  This  expression  comes 
in  the  prophetic  line  from  Ezekiel  and  in  the  apocalyptic 
line  from  Daniel,  and  it  was  not  by  chance  that  Jesus 
adopted  it  in  preference  to  others.  The  Son  of  Man,  while 
designating  the  messianic  dignity,  expressed  something  else 
as  well.  The  Son  of  Man  is  Man,  man  preeminently. 
And  this,  preeminently  again,  was  what  Jesus  wanted  to 
bring  to  his  followers.  He  wanted  to  communicate  to  them 
the  human  verity  in  order  to  bring  them  the  divine  verity; 
he  wanted  to  make  them  see  man  as  he  should  be,  as  he 
himself  had  realised  the  conception,  to  make  them  witnesses 
of  a  perfect  human  experience,  since  this  was  the  only  means 
by  which  they  could  find  out  what  God  was  and  under- 
stand him. 

The  further  he  progressed  in  this  task  of  revelation, 
which  consisted  in  presenting  himself  in  the  sincerity  of 
his  moral  stature,  the  more  Jesus,  giving  himself,  met  with 
human  resistance.  He  saw  it  growing  all  about  him,  em- 
bodying itself  in  the  authorities  who  were  opposing  their 
own  will  to  that  of  God.  This  resistance  became  so  strong 
and  it  resorted  to  such  means  that  the  cross  soon  took  shape 
on  the  horizon  as  inevitable.  The  giving  of  himself  im- 
plied the  necessity  of  going  on,  even  unto  death.  He  was 
obliged,  in  order  to  communicate  to  others  that  which 
formed  the  basis  of  life,  to  submit  to  losing  his  own  life. 
We  shall  see  later  what  this  last  experience  of  the  Messiah 
was.  For  the  moment,  it  is  upon  his  experience  of  life 
that  I  should  like  to  dwell,  asking  once  more.  Who  was 
Jesus?     What  was  this  central  experience  which  for  him 


THE  PERSONALITY  OF  JESUS  243 

constituted  life  so  completely  that  his  only  aim,  the  only 
possible  meaning  of  his  existence,  consisted  in  revealing  it 
to  men,  his  brothers,  and  in  rendering  them  participants 
in  it? 

This  experience  he  summed  up  in  one  word,  the  Father. 
Jesus,  we  may  say,  had  discovered  in  the  depths  of  himself 
what  God  was.  It  was  an  attitude  of  his  whole  being  which 
he  summed  up  in  this  way,  his  natural  attitude,  that  which 
ought  to  be  the  attitude  of  all  humanity  and  which,  alas, 
was  not.  In  receiving,  in  its  plenitude,  the  influx  of  life 
which  made  of  him  a  human  person,  it  was  natural  for 
him  to  say  "Father."  This  vital  influx,  this  inner  urge  of 
energy,  which  Gaston  Frommel  has  called  the  moral  obliga- 
tion, which  the  psycho-analysts  have  named  the  libido, 
Schopenhauer  the  will  to  live,  and  Bergson  the  Uan  vital, 
Jesus  felt,  differently  no  doubt  but  in  the  same  sense,  as 
the  Father.^  And  he  soon  discovered  that  he  felt  it  in  a 
different  way  from  other  men,  that  his  way  of  feeling  it 


*  We  may  be  accused  of  treating  as  identical  here  terms  which,  in 
the  minds  of  those  who  have  employed  them,  have  not  meant  the  same 
thing.  There  is  certainly  a  contradistinction  between  obligation  and 
libido,  between  clan  vital  and  Father,  between  all  these  finite  notions 
of  finite  minds,  just  as  there  is  a  difference  between  the  God  of  Jesus 
Christ  and  the  God  we  serve,  as  there  is  a  difference  between  the  God 
whom  I  believe  I  should  follow  and  the  God  of  my  neighbour  who  is 
a  Catholic  or  a  Freethinker.  And  yet,  in  the  last  analysis,  it  is  the 
same  God  in  every  case,  merely  grasped  in  a  different  and  incomplete 
fashion  by  each  of  us.  Similarly,  there  is  but  a  single  great  reality 
which  animates  us  all  and  urges  us  on  towards  life;  it  is  only  when 
we  attempt  to  explain  it  or  express  it  that  we  give  it  different  and,  as 
sometimes  happens,  opposite  characteristics.  Encountering  it  within 
ourselves,  we  each  see  it  differently  from  the  way  in  which  others  see 
it  and  more  or  less  exactly  as  it  is  conditioned  by  the  faults  and  im- 
perfections of  our  inner  lives.  The  more  depraved  we  are  (and  who 
is  not  more  or  less  so?)  the  more  there  takes  place  in  us  a  distortion 
of  the  forces  of  life  which  causes  them  to  follow  the  path  of  the  brute 
instincts  and  necessitates  a  colossal  effort  of  sublimation.  ^Vith  Jesus 
it  appears  that  this  sublimation  was,  so  to  speak,  immediate  and  con- 
stant, so  that  he  could  hail  with  the  name  of  "Father"  the  life-force 
that  sprang  up  in  him. 

We  advise  those  who  are  shocked  by  our  being  able  to  see  something 
divine  in  the  force  that  drives  living  beings  to  grow,  to  unite  and  to 


244  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

was  the  true  way,  that  his  attitude  was  the  normal  one 
while  that  of  others  was  abnormal,  since  it  thrust  them 
outside  of  life,  into  aberrations,  dreams,  and  sin.  Hence 
his  suffering  and  at  the  same  time  his  ardent,  imperious 
desire  to  save  his  brothers  by  giving  them  the  secret  of 
life  and  causing  them  to  assume  his  own  inner  attitude,  so 
that  they  might  feel  the  paternal  power  in  this  vital  influx 
which  penetrates  the  being  inwardly. 

They  were  seeking  God  elsewhere;  they  must  be  brought 
back  to  the  true  God,  and  for  this  they  must  be  brought 
into  touch  with  the  true  humanity  in  themselves,  the  true 
man  which  each  of  them  is  potentially  but  which  they  have 
allowed  to  become  veiled  and  to  be  displaced  by  false  im- 
ages, by  the  idols  of  humanity.  While  in  others  a  new 
birth,  a  regeneration,  is  necessary  in  order  that  the  true 
attitude  may  be  produced,  in  him,  Jesus,  this  is  natural. 
He  has  assumed  it  from  the  first.  This  is  what  constitutes 
his  originality  and  consequently  his  unique  vocation.  "I 
and  my  Father  are  one,"  ^  he  says,  expressing  this  inner 

multiply  to  reread  with  fresh  eyes  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis.  Who 
was  it,  according  to  the  Scriptures  themselves,  that  gave  this  com- 
mand to  everything  that  lives  upon  the  earth? 

After  that,  why  should  v/e  be  scandalised  by  the  fact  that  the  psycho- 
analysts have  denominated  as  the  libido  the  essential  principle  of 
human  nature?  Only,  to  nature  must  be  added  supernature ;  and  what 
must  be  especially  borne  in  mind  is  that  every  one  regards  the  force 
which  he  feels  quivering  at  the  source  of  his  Hfe  as  the  initiator  of 
that  zvhich  properly  constitutes  the  human  being  in  hint;  every  one 
names  this  expanding  sheaf  of  life-forces  in  accordance  with  the 
colour  of  his  philosophy  and  the  relative  height  of  his  own  thoughts; 
every  one  has  in  himself  the  image  of  man  that  he  deserves.  For 
Jesus  this  inner  force  clothed  itself  preeminently  in  the  features  of 
paternity. 

Let  it  be  admitted  that  moral  obligation,  mill  to  power,  luill  to  live, 
elan  vital,  libido  are  not  the  same  thing.  They  are  photographs,  rather, 
taken  by  different  operators  of  unequal  skill,  of  one  colossal  and  mul- 
tiple reality  of  which  one  and  all  succeed  in  obtaining  but  a  partial 
image,  incomplete  and  deformed  because  of  the  inadequacy  of  their 
lenses.  Jesus  alone  caught  a  full  view  of  this  reality  which  creates 
both  persons  and  life,  and  he  gave  it  the  one  name  that  seemed  fit  to 
him  and  th.it  we  repeat  with  his  warrant :  the  Father. 

^John  X,  30. 


THE  PERSONALITY  OF  JESUS  245 

unity  in  such  a  way  as  to  show  that  he  had  felt  in  his 
meeting  with  the  Father  no  sort  of  shock  but  rather  a 
paternal  embrace.  There- is  a  flawless  continuity  between 
the  Father  and  himself.  Analysing  this  experience  psycho- 
logically, we  cannot  but  assign  to  it  a  mystical  character; 
it  is,  in  its  inmost  essence,  a  mystical  experience.  Thus  we 
may  say  that  the  great  work  of  Jesus,  the  mission  of  his 
life,  his  constant  and  supreme  effort,  was  to  help  men  to 
discover  the  secret  of  life,  by  revealing  to  them  that  mystical 
attitude  of  his  own  which  at  every  moment  brought  him 
face  to  face,  through  the  Father,  with  life. 

While  we  cannot  call  it  anything  else  than  mystical  in 
its  nature,  while  it  is,  from  a  psychological  point  of  view, 
a  mystical  experience,  an  experience  of  inner  communion, 
that  is,  with  a  Beyond,  this  attitude  differs  nevertheless 
from  the  phenomena  that  we  are  accustomed  to  find  among 
mystics  in  general.  M.  Flournoy  commented  on  this  con- 
trast. "There  is  a  striking  difference,"  he  observed,  "be- 
tween the  mystics  and  Jesus  in  regard  to  the  very  content 
of  the  mystical  phenomenon,  the  kind  of  Beyond,  if  I  may 
so  express  it,  which  is  revealed  to  them  and  which  they 
announce  to  the  world  on  the  evidence  of  their  immediate 
experience.  With  most  of  them  it  is  a  vague  sphere  of 
joy  and  deliverance  (the  Buddhist  Nirvana)  or  an  infinite 
and  mysterious  gulf  whence  emerge  for  an  instant  all  finite 
creatures,  only  to  be  at  once  re-absorbed  into  it  (the  One 
of  Pantheism);  more  rarely,  as  among  the  prophets  of 
Israel,  who  in  this  are  indeed  the  forerunners  of  Christ, 
the  object  of  the  mystical  revelation  is  a  personal  Being, 
singularly  different  and  remote,  however,  from  ourselves 

(the  Eternal,  He  that  exists  through  Himself).  Jesus  is 
the  first  to  find  in  the  depths  of  his  own  consciousness  this 
concrete  Beyond,  living,  palpitating  with  love  and  holy  will, 
whose  intimate,   personal   Presence,   at  once  august  and 


246  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

familiar,  like  that  of  another  self  or  a  Great  Companion 
of  a  superior  essence,  could  not,  it  seemed  to  him,  be  better 
expressed  in  terrestrial  language  than  by  the  word  'Father.' 
This  term,  finally,  summing  up  as  it  does  in  itself  the  whole 
religion  of  Christ — since  he  proclaims  in  a  single  word  the 
love  of  God  and  human  brotherhood — expresses  excellently 
at  the  same  time  that  perfect  fusion  of  the  moral  and  the 
mystical  elements  which  makes  of  Jesus  the  unsurpassable 
type,  the  perfected  personification  of  the  religious  genius."  ® 

It  is  only  since  the  publication  of  that  admirable  little 
book  by  Th.  Flournoy,  Le  Ginie  religieux,  that  psycho- 
analysis has  begun  to  be  talked  about  among  ourselves. 
And  this  is  to  be  regretted,  for  what  might  not  its  learned 
author  have  added  to  what  he  tells  us  regarding  Jesus's 
idea  of  the  "Father"  if,  at  the  time,  he  had  possessed  the 
works  of  the  psycho-analysts  on  the  (Edipus-complex  and 
particularly  on  the  paternal  imago?  We  cannot  hope  to 
make  up  for  this,  but  let  us  at  least  add  one  or  two  words 
on  the  subject. 

The  psycho-analysts  have  shown  us  the  immense  role 
that  is  played  by  the  (Edipus-complex  in  early  childhood 
and  the  place  that  is  held  in  the  psychic  life  of  the  child 
by  the  persons  of  the  father  and  the  mother  upon  whom 
come  to  be  concentrated  all  the  child's  most  vivid  feelings. 
Following  this  they  have  revealed  to  us  the  echo  of  these 
first  impressions  in  the  psychic  life  of  the  grown  man,  in 
his  psychic  aberrations  (the  neuroses),  and  again  in  his 
literary  or  poetic,  moral  and  religious  conceptions.  One 
cannot  help  being  struck  by  the  equally  important,  though 
quite  different,  role  played  by  the  notion  of  the  father, 
the  paternal  concept,  the  paternal  imago,  both  in  psycho- 
analysis and  in  the  religion  of  Christ.     The  connection 

6  Flournoy,  Th.,  Le  Genie  religieux,  Association  chretienne  Suisse 
d'etudiants,  1904,  pp.  47;  cf.  pp.  9-10. 


THE  PERSONALITY'  OF  JESUS  247 

forces  itself  upon  us.  May  not  this  connection  furnish 
us  at  least  with  some  light  on  the  nature  of  the  central 
experience  of  Jesus? 

It  will  be  understood  that  I  only  venture  with  hesitation 
upon  this  slippery  ground,  and  that  I  wish  merely  to  indi- 
cate a  few  lines  of  comparison  that  may  aid  us. 

What  role,  what  sort  of  role,  have  the  psycho-analysts 
discovered  in  this  figure  of  the  father,  this  paternal  imago, 
first  in  the  life  of  the  child,  and  afterwards  in  that  of  the 
adult?  They  have  found  that  the  most  intense  emotions 
that  stir  the  child's  soul  attach  themselves  with  great  force 
to  this  symbolic  figure  of  the  father.  And  they  have  also 
found  that  the  most  contradictory  feelings  immediately  at- 
tach themselves  to  it  as  to  their  natural  object,  so  that  for 
the  child  the  father  is  at  once  the  object  of  the  greatest 
hatred  and  of  the  greatest  love.  It  seems  so  natural  for 
the  child  to  love  its  father;  this  harmonises  so  well  with 
our  ordinary  views  of  duty  and  life  that  we  scarcely  notice 
the  feelings  of  affection  which  the  child  has  for  its  father. 
All  this  belongs  in  the  picture,  it  is  appropriate;  it  does 
not  attract  our  attention  because  it  does  not  shock  us. 
It  is  another  matter  when  we  speak  of  the  hatred  of  the 
child  for  its  father.  We  are  immediately  filled  with  a  feel- 
ing of  disapproval,  of  revolt,  a  sense  of  unsuitability.  When 
we  have  referred  in  our  lectures  to  this  hatred  of  the  child 
for  its  father  the  resistance  has  instantly  made  itself  felt 
in  the  protestations  of  the  audience:  the  latter  tell  us,  in 
all  good  faith,  that  on  the  contrary  in  their  own  children 
they  have  observed  a  natural  tendency  to  seek  the  father, 
to  enjoy  being  in  his  arms,  to  wish  to  have  him  near  them 
even  in  preference  to  the  mother.  There  is  nothing  im- 
possible in  this,  nor  does  it  in  any  way  invalidate  the 
psycho-analytic  thesis.  On  the  contrary,  that  mothers  es- 
pecially observe  in  their  children  feelings  of  affection,  a 


248  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

loving  inclination,  for  their  father  simply  arises  from  the 
fact  that  these  sentiments  fall  in  quite  naturally  with  our 
ways  of  thinking  and  the  whole  orientation  of  our  moral 
life.  As  we  observe  more  closely,  however,  focussing  our 
interest  if  need  be  on  what  is  displeasing  to  us  morally, 
we  shall  also  discern  in  our  children  the  opposite  current. 

This  double  direction  of  feeling — love  and  hatred — with 
respect  to  the  same  object,  in  this  case  the  father,  has  been 
called  by  the  psycho-analysts  the  ambivalence  of  the  jeel- 
ings.''  The  infantile  life  is  characterised  by  a  very  strong 
ambivalence  of  the  feelings;  and  since  the  figure  of  the 
father  is  one  of  the  most  marked  objects  of  interest  in  the 
life  of  the  child,  it  is  with  respect  to  him  that  this  ambiva- 
lence is  most  clearly  manifested.  The  child  loves  his  father 
and  hates  him  at  the  same  time.  I  do  not  insist  upon  fine 
distinctions.  Hatred  and  love  must  be  taken  here  in  a 
very  broad  sense;  these  expressions  cover  a  whole  gamut 
of  feelings  that  are  still  undeveloped,  still  in  the  embryonic 
state.  The  child  is  a  man  only  in  posse;  he  is  only  a 
potential  man;  he  neither  loves  nor  hates  perfectly;  the 
primitive  feelings  that  move  him  are  as  yet  undifferentiated. 
He  is  still,  so  to  speak,  in  the  purely  unmoral  stage  of  the 
emotional  life.  Hence  the  fact  that  we  do  not  judge  severely 
these  impulsive  manifestations  which  are  characteristic  of 
the  very  young  child;  they  leave  us  quite  undisturbed  when 
they  do  not  make  us  smile. 

There  exists,  none  the  less,  in  this  complete  unmorality 
of  the  natural  ambivalence  of  the  feelings  in  the  child  what 
might  be  described  as  a  prophetic  call  to  sacrifice.  Let  me 
explain:  we  who  judge  life  morally,  who  are  morally  de- 
veloped beings,  are  bound,  when  v;e  turn  to  consider  the 
future  of  our  children,  to  judge  their  unmorality  as  im- 
moral.    We  say  to  ourselves  that  one  of  their  tendencies 

'  See,  on  ambivalence,  p.  210  (note). 


THE  PERSONALITY  OF  JESUS  249 

of  feeling  must  be  sacrificed  for  the  benefit  of  the  other. 
The  whole  effort  of  education  tends  in  this  direction.  The 
natural  ambivalence  of  the  feelings  must  be  surmounted  in 
some  fashion  in  order  that  the  child  may  attain  to  unity, 
to  the  unification  of  the  personality,  to  moral  equilibrium. 

Now,  this  education  is  not  always  successful.  In  neu- 
rotics, for  example,  we  have  types  with  whom,  from  this 
point  of  view,  education  has  failed.  The  double  current 
of  contradictory  feelings  has  subsisted;  one  of  them,  hatred, 
has  been  repressed,  but  it  remains  at  work  in  the  subcon- 
scious and  is  not  slow  in  bringing  about  disaster.  In  order 
to  cure  these  neuroses  we  have  to  bring  this  latent  hatred 
up  from  the  depths  of  the  subconscious  into  the  light  and 
make  the  patient  understand  that  it  is  not  his  father  who 
must  die,  but  the  false  representations  of  the  father  which 
he  has  himself  formed.  In  a  word,  the  patient's  powers 
of  sacrifice  must  be  directed  towards  a  part  of  his  life 
which  has  developed  wrongly  and  has  remained  outside 
the  control  of  his  consciousness  and  his  reason.*  This  mis- 
take persisted  in  the  patient  when  the  child  was  becoming 
a  man;  the  ambivalence  was  not  surmounted. 

In  the  normal  individual  this  is  not  the  case.  Normally 
the  mere  play  of  life  should  effect  a  sublimation  of  the 
primitive  infantile  tendencies.  The  ambivalence  of  the 
feelings  then  gives  place  to  a  progressive  unification.  But 
how  does  this  unification  occur?  It  occurs  through  what 
I  might  call  a  differentiation  of  the  object  of  the  feelings, 
in  this  case  the  father,  and  it  occurs  in  this  way.  The 
paternal  imago  divides,  so  to  speak,  in  two.  On  one  side 
are  the  false  or  evil  representations  that  the  child  has 
made  of  the  father,  on  the  other  the  true  repiesentations 
which  correspond  to  the  reality.  The  hatred  is  directed 
against  the  false  representations  of  the  father  and  finally 

8  See  the  example  quoted  on  pp.  120  et  seqp. 


250  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

destroys  them;  the  love  attaches  itself  to  the  true  father, 
to  the  true  image  of  the  father  (and,  by  extension,  to  the 
whole  of  humanity  whose  ideal  relations  with  the  child 
are  symbolised  by  those  of  the  father  with  him),  and  de- 
lights in  it. 

Now  how  far  are  we  normal  in  this  respect,  we  indi- 
viduals who  consider  ourselves  perfectly  healthy  in  mind 
and  body?  We  may  well  ask  the  question.  If  we  observe 
ourselves  closely,  especially  if  we  allow  our  inner  life  to 
be  observed  by  a  more  impartial  third  person,  by  having 
ourselves  psycho-analysed,  we  shall  find  perhaps  that  very 
marked  traces  of  ambivalence  still  exist  in  our  own  feelings; 
we  shall  undoubtedly  become  aware  that  with  our  deepest 
love  there  is  often  mingled  an  unacknowledged  fund  of 
rancour,  resentment,  jealousy  that  all  but  perceptibly  ap- 
proaches hatred  and  may  easily  become  hatred  under  the 
sting  of  the  most  insignificant  happenings. 

We  certainly  love  the  father;  we  love  the  enlarged 
paternal  imago,  everything  in  humanity,  that  is,  that  touches 
us  paternally;  but  here  again  how  many  reservations  we 
make  in  which  hatred  has  its  innings!  The  frontiers  be- 
tween peoples,  between  the  classes  of  society,  war,  the 
whole  state  of  modern  Europe  shows  this  with  a  wealth 
of  evidence  that  leaves  nothing  to  be  desired.  We  only 
love  paternal  and  fraternal  humanity  by  hating  it;  we  only 
prove  our  love  for  it  in  the  measure  in  which  we  hate  it. 
It  is  by  killing  that  we  show  ourselves  worthy  to  be  called 
men  and  brothers,  and  sons  of  our  grateful  country.  It 
certainly  cannot  be  said  that  ambivalence  has  been  sur- 
mounted as  yet.  This  incapacity  of  superficially  Christian- 
ised man  to  abate  the  original  ambivalence  of  his  feelings 
and  make  a  unity  within  himself  is  a  humiliating  fact,  a 
mark  of  inferiority  and  inaptitude  for  his  task  that  fills  us 
with  confusion. 


THE  PERSONALITY  OF  JESUS  251 

From  man  in  general  let  us  now  pass  to  Jesus,  still  re- 
membering this  notion  of  the  father,  this  paternal  imago, 
and  try  to  see  how  the  problem  of  the  unification  of  ten- 
dencies, the  passage  from  the  state  of  childhood  to  the 
state  of  moral  majority,  was  resolved  in  him.  Here  we 
at  once  feel  ourselves  on  a  new  plane,  a  higher  level.  In 
Jesus,  in  so  far  as  we  are  able  to  follow  the  path  of  his 
psychic  development  (judged  rather  by  its  results  than 
through  a  study  of  details),  it  appears  as  if  the  ambivalence 
had  been  surmounted,  or  at  least  had  been  resolved  by  a 
differentiation  of  the  object.  Let  us  recall  what  we  mean 
by  this.  We  have  seen  that,  with  normal  individuals,  as 
with  neurotics  who  are  on  the  road  to  recovery,  there  oc- 
curs, at  a  certain  moment  in  their  life,  a  sort  of  division 
of  the  notion  of  the  father.  On  the  one  hand,  the  false 
or  inferior  representations  which  the  individual  has  formed 
of  his  father  are  set  aside,  and  the  individual,  directing  his 
hatred  towards  them,  overthrows  them  in  himself  and  kills 
them.  What  we  have  here  is  a  sort  of  consecration  of 
the  force  of  hatred  to  a  noble  end,  a  sublimation  of  the 
hatred.  On  the  other  hand,  the  love  is  concentrated  on 
the  real  father  and  on  his  substitutes,  fraternal  humanity. 
In  the  case  of  Jesus  v/e  observe  a  similar  movement,  but 
how  much  more  perfect  and  carried  how  much  further! 
The  paternal  imago  divides  also,  but  in  a  different  way, 
on  a  higher  plane:  on  one  side  are  the  paternal  human 
representations,  all  humanity  considered  as  a  family,  the 
human  beings  who  are  his  brethren,  his  mother,  his  sisters;  ^ 
then,  on  the  other  side,  is  a  new  paternal  imago,  unknown 
before  and  of  a  purity  and  a  force  of  attraction  such  as 
are  to  be  found  nowhere  else,  which  Jesus  calls  "the  Father," 
properly  speaking,  in  opposition  to  all  the  other  paternities. 
It  is  upon  this  spiritual  Father,  who  dominates  life  with 

»Matt.  xii,  46-50;  Mark  iii,  31-35;  Luke  viii,  19-21. 


252  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

all  his  divine  loftiness  and  who  animates  life  with  all  his 
human  intimacy,  that  the  power  of  Christ's  love  is  con- 
centrated. It  is  this  heavenly  Father,  attained  and  recog- 
nised in  a  new  and  yet  old  experience,  a  true  experience 
but  one  which  before  Jesus  had  been  merely  potential  in 
humanity,  had  been  merely  anticipated,  so  to  speak, — it 
is  this  Father  who  is  the  real  Father,  it  is  he  who  has  a 
right  to  all  the  love. 

And  the  hatred,  against  what  is  that  directed  in  Jesus? 
It  is  directed  against  all  the  imperfect  representations  of 
the  father  which  concrete  reality  had  furnished  hitherto 
and  which  veiled  from  men,  without  their  suspecting  it, 
the  life  of  the  veritable  Father.  Jesus,  we  remember,  ut- 
tered this  paradoxical  saying  which  has  given  the  exegetists 
a  great  deal  of  trouble:  "If  any  man  come  to  me,  and  hate 
not  his  father,  and  mother,  and  wife,  and  children,  and 
brethren,  and  sisters,  yea,  and  his  own  life  also,  he  cannot 
be  my  disciple."  ^°  Well,  here  is  the  solution;  we  find  it 
along  the  path  of  psychological  analysis.  It  signifies  this 
spiritual  hatred  directed  against  all  the  paralysing  repre- 
sentations of  human  relationships  that  prevent  one  from 
going  to  the  true  Father. 

Jesus  realised  this  saying  to  the  letter.  He  directed  his 
power  of  hatred  against  everything  that  prevented  him  from 
giving  himself  to  the  Father;  and  it  was  not  only  domestic 
obstacles  that  had  to  yield  before  his  vocation,  his  per- 
sonal existence,  to  the  last  point,  was  obliged  to  yield  also. 
With  him  sacrifice  was  not  a  matter  of  evil  personal  ten- 
dencies or  false  or  morbid  representations;  it  involved  the 
whole  self  so  far  as  it  was  individual.  He  understood  and 
felt  that  one  was  obliged  to  "hate  one's  own  life"  when  it 
became  a  hindrance  to  the  realisation  of  the  will  of  the 
Father.    This  annihilating  force  which  is  called  hatred  he 

10  Luke  xiv,  26. 


THE  PERSONALITY  OF  JESUS  253 

permitted  to  turn  decisively  against  his  own  life  when  it 
became  clear  to  him  that  for  him  death  was  the  only  issue 
that  could  assure  to  the  very  last  his  fidelity  to  the  Father. 
The  paradox  that  frightens  us  had  become  in  him  a  psychi- 
cally experienced  reality.  He  had  hated  his  own  life;  he 
had  sacrificed  everything  that  constituted  his  earthly  ex- 
istence so  that  he  might  love  the  true  Father  perfectly.  I 
do  not  know  whether  we  can  grasp  in  its  completeness  what 
took  place  at  this  moment  in  that  unique  personality,  but 
at  least  we  can  attempt  to  understand  it.  Whereas  with 
us  sacrifice  is  usually  prompted  by  the  evil  tendencies  that 
have  continued  to  exist  in  our  souls  and  is  directed  against 
these  tendencies,  in  Jesus  it  seems  to  have  resulted  rather 
from  the  encounter  between  an  evil  external  reality  and  a 
perfectly  pure  individual  experience  of  the  Father. ^^  Jesus 
did  not,  as  we  do,  sacrifice  a  part  of  his  psychic  self  to 
another  part  that  ought  to  live;  he  sacrificed  the  whole  self, 
the  whole  human  personality,  to  the  life  of  Humanity  which 
he  felt  within  him.  This  was  the  sublime  in  sacrifice:  it 
was  the  individual  experience  transcending  its  limits  and 
rising  to  the  height  of  the  collective  human  experience. 
Thus  one  might  almost  say  that  Humanity  was  the  ques- 
tion with  Jesus,  that  there  was  no  question  of  individuality 
at  all;  it  was  the  person  consecrated  to  the  service  of 
Humanity,  the  son  of  man  becoming  Man  par  excellence 
because  he  was  more  than  the  son  of  man,  because  he  was 
the  son  of  God. 

At  the  supreme  moment  of  Gethsemane  Jesus  was  so 
completely  the  son  of  the  Father  that  he  was  able  to  sac- 
rifice everything  that  was  individual  in  him  to  the  realisa- 
tion of  the  love  of  the  Father  for  the  children  and  of  the 
children  for  the  Father.    He  gave  all  that  he  was  so  that 

11  Let  us  note  in  passing  that  in  this  lies  the  chief  difference  between 
the  sacrifice  of  Jesus  and  ordinary  asceticism  or  masochism  (the  pleas- 
ure found  in  inflicting  pain  upon  oneself). 


254  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

in  contemplating  this  gift  men  might  believe  in  love  and 
realise  that  there  is  a  Father  and  that  this  Father  is  the 
supreme  reality. 

By  the  light  of  psycho-analysis  we  can  understand  a 
little  better,  I  believe,  what  is  meant  by  a  sacrifice  that 
is  necessary  to  life  and  how,  in  giving  oneself,  far  from 
destroying  life,  one  furthers  it,  augments  it,  liberates  it. 
From  this  point  of  view,  the  sacrifice  of  Christ  no  longer 
appears  to  us  to  have  those  arbitrary  features  that  have 
been  an  offence  to  some  people.  It  follows  the  very  lines 
of  life  itself.  It  accomplishes  marvellously,  and  through 
an  act  of  the  will  that  has  never  been  surpassed,  that  which 
the  very  tenor  and  process  of  our  psychic  evolution  pre- 
figure and  seem  to  announce:  the  soul's  attainment  of  the 
true  Father  by  sacrifice  and  through  a  partial  death. 

But  at  this  point  there  intervened  very  great  difficulties 
for  Jesus  himself.  Briefly,  how  was  he  to  make  men  un- 
derstand his  inner  attitude?  This  difficulty  lay  not  only 
in  the  quasi-impossibility  of  communicating  such  an  experi- 
ence but  also  and  particularly  in  the  difference  which  he 
perceived  to  exist  between  his  own  experience  and  that  of 
others.  With  them  the  opposite  inner  currents  manifested 
themselves;  never  did  the  influx  of  life  arrive  pure  from 
the  unconscious  layers  of  the  being;  it  was  not  the  Father 
who  was  at  work  within  them,  but  the  devil.^^  While  with 
Jesus  the  entire  group  of  instincts  that  constitute  the  libido 
were  sublimated  in  proportion  as  they  penetrated  into  his 
consciousness,  in  other  men  the  strength  necessary  for  this 
sublimation  does  not  always  exist.  Thus  the  harmonious 
unity  does  not  come  about;  there  are  jars,  repressions;  every- 
thing is  arrested,  qualified,  impaired,  vitiated.  In  Jesus 
the  unity  is  effected  between  the  consciousness  and  the 
forces  of  the  unconscious,  but  the  distinction  is  also  marked 

12  John  viii,  31-47  and  partic.  44. 


THE  PERSONALITY  OF  JESUS  255 

between  that  which  belongs  to  himself  and  the  non-ego  that 
is  in  him:  both  himself  and  his  Father  exist  in  his  ex- 
perience in  a  perfect  harmony  but  with  a  distinction  that 
remains  unaltered.  With  the  natural  man,  on  the  con- 
trary, there  is  a  confusion  between  all  these  subconscious 
forces  that  appear  to  him  at  one  time  as  if  they  were  all 
parts  of  himself,  at  other  times  as  if  they  were  all  alien, 
dominating,  coercive  and,  in  consequence,  of  a  demoniacal 
and  debasing  character. 

There  is  a  difference  in  nature  between  him  and  our^ 
selves,  but  not  a  fundamental  difference.     He  is  himself  j 
Man;  his  experience  is  the  true  human  experience.     Men 
as  they  are  cannot  attain  this  without  being  born  again.  ^  1 
Thus  henceforth  his  whole   activity,  his  whole  effort  of  i 
love,  his  whole  testimony  will  tend  to  lead  them  on  to  this 
new  birth.     He  will  give  them  his  whole  life  in  order  to 
show  them  how  to  live  as  he  has  lived.    But  alas!  it  is  too 
much  to  ask  them  to  give  up  the  false  attitude  towards 
life  which  they  enjoy.    In  demanding  that  men  should  die 
to  themselves,  Jesus  drew  down  upon  himself  the  forces 
of  hatred.    These  invalids  transferred  their  evil  passions  to 
him,  as  if  he  had  been  their  physician,  and  he  became 
the  object  of  their  hatred. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
THE  DEATH  OF  JESUS 

We  have  reached  the  last  chapter  in  the  life  of  Jesus, 
that  is  to  say  the  period  in  his  ministry  when  the  idea 
of  death  begins  to  take  shape  in  his  thoughts.  It  is  very 
difficult  to  fix  the  exact  date  of  this.  From  the  outset, 
no  doubt,  from  the  time  of  the  Baptism  and  the  Temptation, 
the  gift  of  himself  had  appeared  to  him  as  the  essential 
act,  the  central  idea  of  his  ministry  and  his  career.  But 
while  the  gift  of  oneself  is  the  possibility  of  death  accepted, 
it  is  not  the  same  thing  as  death  itself.  Is  there  not  a 
certain  difference  between  the  acceptance  of  every  other 
sacrifice  and  the  supreme  acceptance  incarnated,  as  it  were, 
in  the  glacial,  irremissible  fact  of  personal  death,  accepted, 
willed,  impending? 

It  seems  as  if  the  gospels  wished  to  assign  a  precise  date 
to  this  invasion  of  the  mind  of  Jesus  by  the  idea  of  death. 
We  see  it  appearing  in  the  reiterated  declarations  that  Jesus 
makes  to  his  disciples,  when  he  affirms  to  them,  for  instance, 
that  "The  Son  of  Man  must  suffer  many  things,  and  be 
rejected  of  the  elders,  and  of  the  chief  priests,  and  scribes, 
and  be  killed,  and  after  three  days  rise  again."  ^  These 
declarations  begin  after  the  scene  at  Caesarea  Philippi  and 
the  confession  of  Peter.  We  find  them  also  at  the  moment 
that  follows  the  Transfiguration:  "And  as  they  came  down 
from  the  mountain,  he  charged  them  that  they  should  tell 
no  man  what  things  they  had  seen,  till  the  Son  of  Man 
were  risen  from  the  dead." "     These  two   events,  as  we 

1  Mark  viii,  31 ;  Matt,  xv'i,  21 ;  Luke  ix,  22  and  xxiv,  46. 

2  Mark  ix,  9 ;  Matt,  xvii,  9. 

256 


THE  DEATH  OF  JESUS  257 

have  observed,  almost  coincide,  or  at  least  follow  one  an- 
other very  closely,  and  opinions  differ  among  the  theolo- 
gians as  to  the  order  in  which  they  should  be  placed.^ 
Then,  a  little  later,  at  the  time  when  Jesus  is  going  up  to 
Jerusalem,  "Behold,  we  go  up  to  Jerusalem,"  he  says  to 
them;  "and  the  Son  of  Man  shall  be  delivered  unto  the 
chief  priests,  and  unto  the  scribes;  and  they  shall  condemn 
him  to  death,  and  shall  deliver  him  to  the  gentiles:  and 
they  shall  mock  him,  and  shall  scourge  him,  and  shall  spit 
upon  him,  and  shall  kill  him:  and  the  third  day  he  shall 
rise  again."  * 

Such  passages,  however,  just  because  of  their  preciseness, 
should  be  accepted  with  caution;  for  if  the  disciples  had 
had  any  such  exact  warning,  how  could  they  have  been 
taken  by  surprise  at  the  moment  when  death  came  or 
have  had  so  little  expectation  of  the  Resurrection?  No 
doubt  Jesus  had  spoken  to  them  on  various  occasions,  prob- 
ably in  veiled  and  ambiguous  terms,  of  the  possibility  of 
his  death,  and  these  utterances  v/ere  later  written  down 
and  put  into  a  more  precise  form  in  the  light  of  subsequent 
events.  They  therefore  do  give  us  a  date,  that  on  which 
Jesus  began  to  speak  of  his  death  to  his  followers,  though 
not  the  date,  doubtless  much  earlier,  when  he  began  to 
envisage  it  as  possible  in  his  inner  consciousness. 

Another  passage,  regarded  as  more  convincing,  is  the 
following:  "The  Son  of  Man  came  not  to  be  ministered 
unto,  but  to  minister,  and  to  give  his  life  a  ransom  for 
many."  °  Here,  we  are  told,  is  to  be  found  an  early  inti- 
mation of  an  expiatory  death.  But  aside  from  the  fact 
that  the  expression  "to  give  his  life"  does  not  necessarily 
imply  death,  it  would  be  possible  to  suppose  that  Jesus 
attributed  to  his  unmerited  sufferings  a  virtue  similar  to 

3  See  pp.  229-230. 

4  Mark  x,  33-34;  Matt,  xx,  17. 

5  Mark  x,  45. 


258  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

that  which  Jewish  tradition  attributed  to  the  sufferings 
of  the  brothers  martyred  in  the  time  of  the  Maccabees 
which,  according  to  the  popular  belief,  were  to  turn  aside 
the  wrath  of  God.  Consequently,  this  passage  does  not 
contribute  very  much  to  our  knowledge. 

There  remains  the  Last  Supper,  the  institution  of  the 
Last  Supper,  which  does  indeed  appear  to  be  closely  related 
to  the  death  of  Jesus  and  seems  to  affirm  in  advance  its 
unique  significance.  And  yet  doubts  have  arisen  in  con- 
nection with  this  also.  It  has  been  thought,  and  reasonably 
thought,  that  Jesus  had  no  intention  of  making  this  last 
meal  a  sacrament  for  later  times;  it  has  been  asked  whether 
the  emphasis  later  laid  upon  the  bread  and  the  v^^ine  as 
representing  the  broken  body  and  the  shed  blood  was  not 
falsified  or  exaggerated;  and  whether  Jesus  had  not  been 
insisting  here  again  rather  on  life  than  on  death,  on  that 
living  bread  and  that  living  blood  upon  which  Christians 
should  nourish  themselves. 

However  this  may  be,  and  whatever  may  be  the  value 
of  the  different  passages  we  have  just  examined,  we  cannot 
but  observe,  in  any  case,  and  whether  we  wish  to  do  so 
or  not,  that  the  feelings  and  especially  the  intellectual  certi- 
tudes they  presuppose  in  Jesus  are  in  flagrant  contradiction 
to  the  story  of  his  last  moments  as  they  are  described  to 
us  by  these  same  gospels.  To  make  certain  of  this  we 
have  only  to  reread  the  scene  of  Gethsemane,  the  account 
of  the  final  moral  struggle.*'  What  does  this  show  us  if 
not  that,  even  then,  on  the  very  eve  of  the  supreme  sac- 
rifice, the  hope  of  a  possible  deliverance  still  existed  in  the 
heart  of  Jesus?  The  prayer,  full  of  submission  as  it  is, 
nevertheless  besought  for  this  deliverance,  and  with  what 
an  ardour  of  the  whole  being! 

Even  on  the  cross  itself,  it  appears  that  Christ  had  not 

6  Matt,  xxvi,  36-56 ;  Mark  xiv,  32-52 ;  Luke  xxii,  39-53. 


THE  DEATH  OF  JESUS  259 

lost  the  hope  of  a  possible  intervention  on  the  Father's 
part;  and  does  not  the  cry  that  one  of  the  evangelists 
reports  as  having  been  the  only  one  which  he  uttered,  the 
tragic  and  terrifying  cry:  "My  God,  my  God,  why  hast 
thou  forsaken  me!'"  does  not  this  cry  seem  to  be  the 
tragic  avowal  of  this  last  hope  which  is  vanishing?  Oh! 
there  are  obviously  other  ways  in  which  it  might  be  inter- 
preted. How  far  is  it  not  possible  to  carry  interpretation? 
But  when  we  place  ourselves  candidly  and  open-mindedly 
before  this  living  scene  and  permit  its  poignant  realism  to 
seize  upon  our  hearts,  then  we  recognise  that  this  cry,  modi- 
fied as  the  sense  of  it  may  seem  to  be  by  other  words 
spoken  at  other  times,  is  a  cry  of  despair,  the  fearful 
rending  of  a  heart  which,  till  then,  has  hoped  for  an  inter- 
vention of  God  that  has  never  come. 

Now  that  we  have  attempted  to  clear  a  little  the  approach 
to  the  sanctuary,  let  us  try  to  penetrate  into  the  sanctuary 
itself.  The  question  to  be  considered  for  the  moment  is 
this:  "Did  Jesus  entirely  understand  the  meaning  of  his 
death  and  why  he  had  to  die?" 

This  question  is  important  because  to  it  is  linked  a  whole 
manner  of  regarding  Christianity  that  depreciates  the  Chris- 
tian life  by  making  of  it  a  drama  that  is  played  in  heaven 
and  on  earth  by  mere  puppets  under  the  whip  of  a  destiny 
which  is  more  like  the  antique  jatmn  than  the  paternal 
will  of  the  God  of  Jesus  Christ.  There  are  many  who 
think  that  it  was  all  decreed  in  advance  and  that  Jesus, 
actuated  by  omniscience,  knew  from  birth  what  he  would 
have  to  undergo.  Having  the  knowledge,  he  had  the 
strength,  as  a  matter  of  course;  and  the  events  unrolled 
as  in  a  drama  v/ritten  by  a  sanguinary  god  whose  son,  dis- 
illusioned actor  and  predestined  victim,  was  condemned 
to  play  the  principal  role  up  to  and  including  death.    The 

7  Mark  xv,  34. 


26o  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

horror  of  such  a  conception  is  only  equalled  by  its  stupidity. 
For  how  is  it  possible  that  we  should  be  served  by  a  theatri- 
cal redemption,  played  entirely  outside  the  conditions  of 
real  human  life? 

Now  this  was  not  the  case.  What,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
do  the  texts  that  we  have  just  passed  in  review  reveal 
to  us?  They  show  us  a  Christ  who  became  conscious  very 
early  of  the  psychological  conditions  of  the  life  of  a  Saviour. 
Either  because  of  the  resistance  that  he  encountered  or 
through  his  reading  of  the  Old  Testament,  particularly  of 
Isaiah  LIII  and  the  life  of  Jeremiah,  the  thought  that  the 
death  of  the  Messiah  was  possible,  and  even  probable,  had 
taken  possession  of  his  mind:  this  thought  had  so  forced 
itself  upon  him  that  it  became  an  anguish  and  a  torment, 
an  evident  necessity.  He  saw  that  he  was  to  be  condemned, 
that  he  was  doubtless  to  be  put  to  death.  But  we  know 
what  a  difference  there  is  between  the  thought  of  death 
and  the  reality  of  death  when  it  presents  itself  as  inevitable 
and  imminent.  Jesus  may  have  finally  realised  that  he  had 
to  die,  since  this  was  the  only  issue  that  the  fulfilment 
of  his  duty  left  to  him  in  the  precise,  the  unique  circum- 
stances in  which  he  was  placed,  but  did  he  also  understand 
all  the  consequences  of  his  death  and  the  reason  for  it? 
I  do  not  believe  so.  To  the  very  end  he  was  submissive 
in  his  obedience,  but  he  was  submissive  in  spite  of  the 
obscurity  of  his  mind,  which  did  not  perceive  whither  his 
obedience  was  leading  him. 

Jesus  was  led  step  by  step  to  his  death,  and  he  accepted 
it  through  his  entire  confidence  in  the  Father  who  was 
guiding  him:  he  saw,  indeed,  in  the  death  that  was  de- 
manded of  him,  the  crowning  of  the  whole  moral  logic  of 
his  life.  He  had  been  led  thither,  and  God,  in  consequence, 
had  made  this  demand  of  him.  But  why?  This  was  the 
riddle.     Jesus  did  not  perceive  what  we  perceive  to-day. 


THE  DEATH  OF  JESUS  261 

He  died  without  knowing  it;  and  that  is  what  constitutes 
the  incomparable  grandeur  of  this  death.  But  he  died,  con- 
fident and  morally  certain,  nevertheless,  because  he  was 
sure  of  the  Father  who  had  led  him  thus  far.  A  confidence 
in  the  Father  that  goes  to  the-  length  of  accepting  death 
for  oneself,  that  is  the  great  lesson  which  he  gave  to  the 
world;  not  in  theory  but  in  the  fulness  of  life,  in  the  earthly 
existence  of  a  human  person. 

Now  it  is  precisely  this  that  men  must  see,  and  upon 
which  they  must  reflect,  in  order  to  be  able  to  pass  through 
a  new  birth.  They  cannot  themselves  attain  this  without 
an  inner  death,  without  desiring  and  accepting  the  real 
death  of  a  part  of  themselves.  And  men  had  not  dared 
to  take  this  step;  they  had  not  had  enough  confidence  in 
the  hidden  energies  of  the  life  within  them,  in  the  Father 
who  makes  his  voice  heard  in  the  depths  of  the  soul,  to 
hazard  this  sacrifice.  It  was  necessary  for  one  of  them, 
the  purest  and  most  saintly,  to  show  them  the  road,  it 
was  necessary  for  him  to  enter  entirely  into  thi3  obscure 
death  .  ,  .  without  knowing  why,  through  obedience. 
Jesus  took  the  risk  that  humanity  had  seen  before  it  for 
centuries  without  daring  to  brave  it.  He  abandoned  him- 
self entirely  to  the  paternal  will  that  breaks  and  kills  and 
sacrifices,  after  having  abandoned  himself  to  the  paternal 
will  that  gives  life.  We  needed  to  see  this  in  order  to 
believe  that  life  is  born  of  death,  to  know  it,  to  be  certain 
of  it.  Here  again  Jesus  fulfilled  what  had  been  in  gestation 
for  centuries  in  the  human  soul.  This  is  what  remains  for 
us  to  show  now. 

In  a  pamphlet  of  fifty-eight  pages  which  appeared  at 
Leipzig  in  19 15  under  the  title  Durch  Tod  ziim  Leben 
("Through  Death  to  Life"),  Herbert  Silberer,  one  of  the 
most  interesting  of  the  psycho-analysts,  gathered  together 
an  impressive  array  of  documents  to   show  how   deeply 


262  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

rooted  in  the  subconscious  layers  of  the  human  soul  is 
this  theme  of  "through  death  to  life."  He  points  out  the 
traces  of  it  even  among  the  primitive  peoples,  among  whom 
a  series  of  ceremonies  and  initiation  rites  turn  upon  this 
truth  that  "it  is  only  through  death  that  one  attains  life," 
expressing  it  in  all  sorts  of  symbols  the  meaning  of  which 
has  sometimes  been  lost  even  by  those  who  use  them. 

In  later  times,  in  the  secret  societies  of  every  type  that 
spring  from  the  bosom  of  humanity,  death  is  represented 
as  the  key  to  the  attainment  of  a  higher  life,  a  new  birth. 
Silberer  quotes  as  examples  the  Greek  and  Egyptian  de- 
votional institutions,  the  mysteries  of  Mithra,  the  Gnostic 
cults,  the  sects  that  practise  baptism,  certain  philosophical 
schools  of  antiquity;  in  the  Middle  Ages,  the  academies 
of  the  Renaissance,  a  series  of  humanistic  societies  and 
orders  which  had  the  outward  appearance  of  associations 
of  artists  or  artisans  but  of  which  the  principal  and  secret 
interest  was  of  a  religious  nature;  then,  nearer  to  our- 
selves, the  societies  that  arose  from  these  latter  companies, 
the  Rosicrucians,  at  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, the  freemasons  who  date  from  171 7,  and  finally  the 
theosophical  or  occultist  societies  of  our  own  epoch  which 
purport  to  be  the  custodians  of  profound  secrets. 

We  cannot  enter  into  circumstantial  details,  but  I  should 
like  at  least  to  point  out  the  frequency  of  these  images 
of  the  new  birth  through  death,  first  of  all  among  the 
primitive  peoples.  Take,  for  example,  the  initiation  cere- 
monies which,  among  many  of  these  peoples,  are  imposed 
upon  the  youths  at  the  moment  when  they  reach  manhood, 
roughly  at  the  moment  of  puberty.  The  general  features 
of  these  rites  are  as  follows:  first,  the  candidate  is  obliged 
to  remain  for  a  certain  time  in  some  dark  place,  in  a  hidden 
place  in  the  forest  perhaps;  he  is  then  obliged  to  undergo 
tests  of  courage  or  resolution,  and  sometimes  he  is  subjected 


THE  DEATH  OF  JESUS  263 

to  the  ceremony  of  a  sham  murder;  ^  after  this  he  is  re- 
turned to  life  as  a  new  man,  so  new  that  he  must  be  taught 
again  the  simplest  movements  and  actions,  such  as  eating, 
speaking,  walking,  etc.,  of  which  he  is  supposed  to  be  ig- 
norant. Next  his  guides  teach  him  the  secrets  that  are 
not  known  outside  the  society  of  the  initiates,  and  which 
must  never  be  revealed.  He  is  a  new  being,  he  is  born 
anew,  this  time  to  the  true  life,  the  life  of  the  group  of 
initiates.® 

In  the  Mystery-Religions  we  find  precisely  the  same  con- 
ceptions in  a  more  conscious  form,  the  same  instinctive 
needs  of  the  soul  expressing  themselves  under  analogous 
symbols.  There  is  Attis,  represented  by  the  pine,  the  tree 
that  is  always  green,  which  dies  and  is  carried  to  the  tomb 
in  the  shadow  of  the  sanctuary;  his  adepts  mutilate  them- 

8  Or  a  partial  murder,  the  removal  of  a  part  of  the  body,  the  teeth, 
for  example,  circumcision,  etc. 

3  Cf.,  on  the  initiation  rites  of  primitive  peoples :  Freud,  S.,  Totem 
und  Tabu.  Leipzig  anc]t.N Vienna,  Heller,  pp.  149. — Durckheim,  Em., 
Les  form-es  elementaires  \ie  la  vie  religieiise ;  le  systeme  totemique  en 
Australie.  Paris,  Alcan,  1912,  pp.  647. — Toy,  C.  H.,  Introduction  to 
the  History  of  Religions.  Boston,  Ginn  and  Co.,  no  date,  pp.  639. — 
Brinton,  D.,  Religions  of  Primitive  Peoples.  New  York,  Putnam,  1897, 
pp.  264. — DussAUD,  R.,  Introduction  a  I'histoire  des  religions.  Paris, 
Leroux,  1914,  pp.  292. — Junod,  H.  A.,  Zidji,  etude  de  moeiirs  siid- 
africaincs.  St.-Blaise,  191 1,  pp.  22>Z- — Id.,  The  Life  of  a  South  African 
Tribe.  2  vols.,  St.-Blaise. — Tylor,  Edw.,  Primitive  Cultur-e,  2  vols. 
London,  Murray,  1913,  5th  ed.,  pp.  973. — Le  Roy,  A.,  La  religion  des 
primitifs.  Paris,  Beauchesne,  191 1,  3rd  ed.,  pp.  522. — Sfencer  and  GiL- 
LEN,  Native  Tribes  of  Central  Australia.  London,  Macmillan,  1899. — 
Id.,  Northern  Tribes  of  Central  Australia,  id.,  1904. — Jevons,  F.  B., 
Introduction  to  the  History  of  Religion.  London,  Methuen,  6th  ed., 
1914,  pp.  443. — Robertson  Smith,  The  Religion  of  the  Semites.  Aber- 
deen, 1S89. — Reinach,  S.,  Orpheus. — Frazer,  The  Golden  Bough.  2nd 
ed.,  Ill,  p.  422. — Crawley,  The  Mystic,  Rose. — Hastings,  art.  Circum- 
cision in  the  Encyclopaedia  of  Religion  and  Ethics. — Ames,  Ed.  S., 
Psychology  of  Religious  Experience.  London,  1910,  part  II. — Langloh- 
Parker,  The  Euahlayi  Tribe. — Arnoux,  P.  Al.,  Le  cultc  dc  la  Societe 
secrete  des  Imandwa  an  Ruandu.  Anthropos  VII,  1912. — Peckel,  P.  G., 
Religion  und  Zaubcrei  auf  dem  mittlcrem  Nezv-Meckl.  Bisr.iarck- 
Archipel.  Anthropos  I,  3,  1910. — Frobenius,  L.,  Die  Masken  und  Ge- 
heimbiinde  Africas.  Nova  Acta  Abh.  D.  Kaiserl.  Leopold-Carol, 
deutsch  Akad.  d.  Naturforscher  LXXIV,  i,  1898,  etc.;  and  the  Journal 
of  the  Anthropological  Institute. 


264  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

selves  just  as  he  did,  according  to  the  legend,  and  all  but 
die  with  him,  so  as  to  be  born  again  with  him  to  a  new 
life.  There  is  Mithra,  conceived  under  the  image  of  the 
sacrificed  bull  whose  regenerating  blood,  received  by  the 
initiates  in  baptism,  makes  new  beings  of  them.  Many- 
other  features  of  the  ceremonies  are  enumerated  in  the 
special  works.  Everywhere  among  the  Mystery-Religions 
we  find  this  idea  of  death  as  necessary  to  the  new  birth. 

In  studying  these  ancient  cults  and  these  ceremonies, 
some  of  which  still  flourish  among  contemporary  peoples 
but  which  represent  a  past  stage  of  human  evolution,  one 
is  more  and  more  struck — indeed  one  cannot  fail  to  be 
struck — bj'^  the  incessant  reappearance  of  analogous  formu- 
las, images,  and  concepts  all  of  which  lead  us  back  to  this 
theme:  "Through  and  by  means  of  death  to  life." 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is  not  only  in  the  past  that  these 
images  recur.  We  find  traces  of  them  everywhere  in  the 
present.  In  the  bosom  of  Christianity  they  are  in  full  evi- 
dence; but  we  observe  them  also  in  'Movements  that  have 
no  connection  with  Christianity  or  even  deny  it,  such  as  free- 
masonry, as  well  as  in  the  dreams  and  the  visions  of  neu- 
rotics. Everywhere  this  necessity  of  a  new  birth  and  of 
death  as  a  condition  of  it  recurs  and  obtrudes  itself  as  an 
essential  leitmotif  of  the  human  soul.  Fairy-tales,  legends, 
and  myths  add  further  weight  to  the  force  of  this  inference; 
for  they  are  full  of  the  same  idea. 

The  conclusion  is  inescapable  that  we  have  here  one  of 
the  profoundest  traits  of  the  psychology  of  man.  Whence 
does  it  come?  Why  do  we  find  it  on  all  sides?  Surely  be- 
cause these  antithetic  symbols,  death,  new  birth,  correspond 
to  an  inner  process  which  is  that  of  life  itself. 

The  progress  of  the  inner  life,  of  the  psychic  life  of  man, 
is  bound  up  with  a  necessity  by  which  certain  tendencies 
must  die  in  order  that  others  may  be  able  to  develop. 


THE  DEATH  OF  JESUS  265 

The  human  being,  if  he  wishes  to  give  the  full  measure  of 
himself  and  be  equal  to  the  tasks  of  life,  must  consent  to 
die,  at  least  in  a  portion  of  himself,  so  as  to  attain  to  the 
full  development  to  which  he  inwardly  and  instinctively 
aspires.  This  truth,  vaguely  and  as  it  were  subconsciously 
perceived,  has  been  expressed,  from  the  very  dawn  of  his- 
tory, in  myths,  legends,  rites,  and  fairy-tales,  that  is  to 
say  under  the  varied  forms  of  the  symbol.  It  never  be- 
came fully  conscious,  because  too  many  contrary  tendencies 
of  our  nature  imposed  an  insurmountable  barrier  against 
it.  We  do  not  want  to  become  aware  of  what  is  within 
us  because  we  are  afraid  of  it.  Man  allows  that  which 
torments  him  inwardly  to  escape,  as  if  through  a  safety- 
valve,  in  the  form  of  literary  and  poetic  dreams.  Save  in 
a  few  exceptional  cases,  he  has  neither  the  strength  nor 
the  will  to  see  himseFf  as  he  is  and  to  undertake  consciously 
the  life-task  that  lies  before  him. 

The  symbols  of  the  death  necessary  to  attain  to  a  new 
birth  which  humanity  has  presented  to  itself  in  its  cults 
and  myths  had  not  the  power  to  evoke  with  sufficient  phe- 
cision  the  act  of  the  inner  life  that  must  be  performed  in 
order  for  one  to  be  born  again.  It  remained  a  symbol, 
a  cold  dramatisation.  The  representation  was  palpably  arti- 
ficial till  the  day  came  when  a  man  consummated,  in  the 
fulness  of  human  life,  the  absolute  gift  of  self,  realised 
the  death,  had  the  power  to  obey  the  forces  of  life  that 
exalted  him  to  the  point  of  his  accepting  the  death.  There 
was  no  longer  any  question  of  symbols  on  this  occasion. 
The  inner  reality  was  lived  through.  A  man,  in  the  com- 
pleteness of  humanity,  had  the  courage  and  the  requisite 
plenitude  of  life  to  risk  his  whole  personality  in  the  tragic 
adventure  that  is  called  death. 

And  this  was  not  the  dream-death,  the  death  that  the 
mystics  mean  when  they   speak  of  their  night,  of  their 


266  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

absolute  ignorance,  of  the  death  of  the  jacidties;  it  was 
not  the  death  of  the  consciousness  turned  back  upon  itself 
in  introversion;  it  was  active  death,  if  I  may  so  describe 
it,  accepted  in  full  reality  and  in  full  activity,  consciously 
and  deliberately. 

Where  every  one  had  hesitated  to  die  in  part  he  was 
willing  to  give  himself  entirely.  Thenceforward  the  door 
stood  open  and  others  could  follow. 

We  are  now  in  a  position  to  understand  the  experience 
which  the  disciples  obtained  from  the  Resurrection  of  Christ. 
Whatever  the  nature  of  this  latter  was,  and  I  shall  not  dis- 
cuss that  here,  they  had  tasted  the  life  and  the  triumphant 
power  of  him  who  had  died.  They  saw  that  death  did 
not  destroy  life;  they  had  shared  this  unique  experience, 
which  had  transformed  the  world,  that  to  die  was  to  live, 
since  he  whom  they  had  seen  die  thenceforward  lived  in 
them. 

In  this  sense,  one  may  say  that  Jesus  had  incarnated 
in  his  death  and  in  his  resurrection  an  inner  experience  that 
had  existed  potentially  for  centuries  in  the  human  soul  but 
that  had  never  passed  beyond  the  sphere  of  the  dream. 
He  translated  into  life  the  secular  dream  of  the  peoples. 
Sacrifice  unto  death  is  now  no  longer  merely  a  symbol, 
it  has  become  an  enacted  reality;  and  in  this  lies  the  great 
new  fact  that  has  changed  the  face  of  the  world.  Hence- 
forth, to  symbolise  to  themselves  the  psychic  process  through 
which  they  must  pass  in  order  to  have  life,  in  order  to 
be  born  anew,  men  no  longer  have  merely  fairy-tales, 
dreams,  or  legendary  stones;  they  have  a  human  life  and 
a  human  death  that  have  been  lived  through,  if  the  ex- 
pression is  not  too  strong.  To  assist  them  in  working  on 
themselves  they  have  a  point  of  departure  and  a  force 
that  are  living  and  no  longer  merely  imaginary.  Something 
has  been  realised  that  was  never  realised  before.    Hence- 


THE  DEATH  OF  JESUS  267 

forth,  one  can  accept  death,  one  can  desire  one's  own  death, 
knowing,  since  one  has  beheld  it  in  a  historic  human  being, 
that  this  accepted  death  is  not  a  deceit,  that  it  leads  one 
to  the  true  life,  to  the  sublime  and  eternal  life,  that  he 
who  gives  himself  does  not  die,  but  lives  again  in  others 
and  with  them.  This  is  the  psychological  meaning  and 
perhaps  the  raison  d'etre  of  the  death  of  Jesus.  He  alone 
was  able  to  untie  the  Gordian  knot  that  held  the  soul 
captive  to  itself,  and  this  he  did  by  accom.plishing  in  reality 
and  visibly  what  man  had  felt  that  he  ought  to  accomplish 
spiritually  v/ithout  ever  being  able  to  do  so.  His  very 
person  thus  becomes  the  living  symbol  of  the  most  inward 
and  decisive  psychic  act,  that  of  dying  to  himself  and 
abandoning  himself  to  those  forces  of  the  inner  life  which 
he  felt  to  be  paternal  and  which  he  called  the  Father. 

Did  he  suspect  that,  without  his  death,  the  new  birth 
of  which  he  had  spoken  so  much  would  have  been  impos- 
sible to  the  great  majority  of  men?  Perhaps  he  had  some 
intuition  of  this:  "Except  a  corn  of  wheat  fall  into  the 
ground  and  die,"  he  said,  "it  abideth  alone:  but  if  it  die, 
it  bringeth  forth  much  fruit."  ^°  In  any  case  his  confidence 
in  the  Father,  who  demanded  the  supreme  sacrifice  of  him, 
was  not  mistaken;  it  came  to  a  happy  issue,  and  this  con- 
sists in  the  number  of  those  who,  saved  from  themselves 
by  an  inner  death  of  the  demoniacal  instincts,  follow  him, 
in  newness  of  life,  tov/ards  the  eternal  horizons.  We  must 
admit  that  in  the  course  of  the  history  of  Christianity  this 
has  often  been  perverted.  The  great  mystics,  or  at  least 
most  of  them,  have  fallen  back,  through  the  paths  of  the 
inner  dream,  of  autism,  to  a  death  and  a  life  that  have 
been  played  rather  than  realised.  The  stigmatists,  those 
neurotics  who  have  counterfeited  in  themselves  the  suffer- 

^°  John  xii,  24.  This  text,  it  is  true,  is  in  the  gospel  of  John.  It  may 
be  attrihutable  to  the  experiences  of  a  subsequent  generation,  though 
this  is  not  certain.     Still,  it  remains  a  matter  of  doubt. 


268  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

ings  of  Christ,  have  been  in  this  the  playthings  and  the 
victims  of  a  temperament  that  is  incapable  of  grasping 
and  mastering  life.  To  follow  Jesus  is  not  to  copy  him 
slavishly  in  a  dream  in  which  one  shuts  oneself  away  from 
the  society  of  men.  Rather  it  is  to  accept  day  by  day 
the  death  which  existence  inflicts  upon  living  consciences, 
upon  those  who  at  all  times  desire  the  will  of  the  Father; 
it  is  to  reproduce  in  the  midst  of  life  this  heroism  of 
Christ's  who  risked  his  personality  even  unto  death  in  the 
service  of  the  paternal  will  of  which  he  had  experienced 
the  full  power  in  himself.  To  live,  in  the  Christian  sense 
of  the  word,  is  not  in  fact  to  become  absorbed  in  the 
illusory  dream  that  seems  to  conduct  you  to  the  enjoyment 
of  life  through  the  terrors  of  death.  It  is,  on  the  contrary,, 
to  confront  the  surrounding  reality  as  it  is,  a  reality  that 
kills  uncompromising  consciences;  it  is  to  desire,  in  the 
midst  of  an  earthly  and  social  existence,  what  the  Father 
desires;  that  is  to  say,  granting  the  forces  that  still  rule 
in  this  world,  to  expose  oneself  to  the  violence  of  humanity 
even  to  the  point,  if  it  is  necessary,  of  receiving  death. 
There  lie  in  wait,  for  every  authentic  Christian  personality, 
constant  outrages,  partial  deaths,  deprivations  that  are 
forced  upon  one  unless  one  accepts  them  voluntarily.  To 
him  who  desires  life,  in  the  Christian  sense  of  the  word, 
death  is  ever  close  at  hand  through  the  very  fact  that  sin- 
cerity is  at  daggers  drawn  with  a  world  of  hypocrisy  and 
violence.  To  dream  the  struggle  is  simply  a  way  of  avoid- 
ing it.  The  great  introverts  have  often  withdrawn  from 
the  reality  of  the  living  sacrifice;  their  very  asceticism  is 
sometimes  an  evasion. 

Jesus  is  greater  because  he  neither  willed  nor  desired 
a  dream-death.  He  accepted  in  the  simplest  fashion  the 
real  death  which  the  real  life  placed  before  him.  It  is  upon 
this  ground  of  lived  realities  that  one  must  follow  him  in 


THE  DEATH  OF  JESUS  269 

order  to  be  a  Christian.  And  this  is  why  the  Huguenots 
and  the  Puritans  have  been  greater  saints  than  all  those  of 
the  Catholic  Church,  with  the  exception  perhaps  of  the 
Poverello  of  Assisi.  And  this  is  also  why  we  must  inces- 
santly defend  the  form  of  Christian  life  which  we  call 
Protestant  as  superior  to  the  Roman  Catholic  form,  since 
it  constantly  leads  life  back  to  the  moral  ground,  dragging 
it  pitilessly  away  from  the  easier  but  baneful  derivations  of 
introversion.  We  suffer  sometimes  from  the  apparent  dry- 
ness of  our  Protestantism;  many  people  who  are  fond  of 
poetry  reproach  us  with  the  austerity  which  they  see  in  it 
without  distinguishing  the  far  superior  moral  beauty  of 
which  this  austerity  is  the  external  safeguard.  Without 
setting  ourselves  against  anything  that  may  add  grandeur 
to  the  Protestant  religion,  it  is  important  to  challenge  the 
ever-active  influence  that  paganism  has  continued  to  exer- 
cise upon  Christianity  since  the  time  of  the  ancient  mys- 
teries, the  influence  which  consists  in  causing  the  soul  to 
glide  comfortably  down  the  slope  of  dreams  away  from 
life,  in  turning  it  away  from  the  real  life  and  the  real  death 
which  are  always  difficult  and  tragic,  and  replacing  them 
with  symbolic  counterfeits,  with  a  poetic  drama  the  charm 
of  which  resides  precisely  in  the  fact  that  one  can  watch 
it  without  taking  part  in  it,  and  by  being  present  at  it 
imagine  oneself  living  it  all  without  having  to  make  any 
decision  or  assume  any  responsibility.  To  follow  Jesus 
Christ  is  not  to  watch  from  a  distance,  as  passive  spectators, 
a  mystery  that  is  greater  and  more  beautiful  than  all  those 
that  have  been  played  on  the  world's  stage  before  or  since 
his  time;  it  is  to  live,  with  one  who  has  lived  and  still  lives 
in  his  followers,  a  life  of  which  the  cross  is  the  constant 
end  and  renewal,  a  conjoined  life  and  death  which  are 
essential  to  the  resurrection  and  alone  render  it  possible. 


CHAPTER  IX 
THE  RESURRECTION 

It  is  time  now  to  pass  on  to  the  accounts  that  have  been 
preserved  for  us  of  the  Resurrection  of  Jesus,  so  that  we 
may  judge  of  their  value  and  their  import  and  try  at  least 
to  determine  what  facts  are  buried  in  them  and  what  place 
these  facts  occupy  in  the  psychology  of  Christian  humanity. 

The  gospels  have  preserved  for  us,  in  connection  with 
the  Resurrection  of  Jesus,  the  echo  of  two  traditions,  the 
characters  of  which  are  at  once  discernible.  According  to 
one  of  these,  the  appearances  of  the  resuscitated  Jesus  took 
place  in  Galilee;  he  exhibited  himself  under  the  form  of 
a  body  which  did  not  seem  to  be  subject  to  the  same  laws 
as  our  earthly  bodies,  which  did  not  seem  to  be  the  body 
that  Jesus  had  had  on  earth  before  his  death.  This  is 
the  tradition  which  appears  in  the  gospels  of  Mark  and 
Matthew  and  in  the  apocryphal  gospel  of  Peter.  Accord- 
ing to  the  other,  which  is  called  the  Judaic  or  Jerusalemite 
tradition,  as  distinguished  from  the  Galilean  tradition,  the 
apparitions  took  place  in  and  about  Jerusalem.  Jesus  ap- 
peared in  his  corporeal  body  just  as  it  had  been  before 
his  death;  he  shows  his  wounds  to  the  apostles,  he  eats 
before  them,  etc.  This  is  the  tradition  of  the  gospel  of 
Luke. 

In  the  gospel  of  John,  as  is  natural  considering  its  rela- 
tively later  date,  the  two  traditions,  the  Judaic  and  the  Gali- 
lean, are  united,  though  without  blending  as  completely  as 
they  are  to  do  in  the  future.  But  these  are  only  affirma- 
tions; let  us  look  at  the  facts. 

270 


THE  RESURRECTION  271 

§  I.     THE  DOCUMENTS 

In  Chapter  XVI  of  the  gospel  of  Mark  we  see  Mary 
Magdalene,  Mary  the  mother  of  James,  and  Salome  coming 
to  the  sepulchre  in  which  Jesus  had  been  laid  to  anoint 
the  body.  ''Who  shall  roll  us  away  the  stone  from  the 
door  of  the  sepulchre?"  they  ask  one  another.  "And  v/hen 
they  looked,  they  saw  that  the  stone  was  rolled  away." 
A  young  man,  clothed  in  a  white  garment,  tells  them  that 
Jesus  has  risen  and  bids  them  go  and  tell  the  disciples  that 
they  are  to  see  him  in  Galilee.  The  conclusion  of  the  chap- 
ter, from  verse  9,  is  possibly  an  addition  to  the  gospel  of 
Mark:  it  is  missing  in  most  of  the  manuscripts. 

In  the  gospel  of  Matthew  (chap,  xxviii)  we  find  the 
same  or  almost  the  same  account.  Instead  of  three  women 
there  are  only  two  here:  Mary  Magdalene  and  the  other 
Mary;  instead  of  the  young  man  in  white  garments  there 
appears  an  angel  who  frightens  the  guard  stationed  near 
the  tomb.  He  announces  to  the  women  that  Jesus  is  risen 
and  that  they  shall  see  him  in  Galilee.  Then,  all  at  once, 
Jesus  himself  appears  before  them,  but  only  to  command 
them  to  go  and  tell  his  brothers  to  go  into  Galilee;  they 
are  to  see  him  there.  Then  the  eleven  disciples  "went  away 
into  Galilee,  into  a  mountain  where  Jesus  had  appointed 
them.  And  when  they  saw  him,  they  worshipped  him: 
but  some  doubted.  And  Jesus  came  and  spake  unto 
them.  .  .  ."^ 

The  last  development  of  the  Galilean  tradition  is  found 
in  the  apocryphal  gospel  of  Peter.^    It  says  here  that  on 

1  Matt,  xxviii,  16-18. 

2  This  gospel  of  Peter  was  known  only  by  name  before  the  year 
1892  when  Bouriant  found  in  Egypt,  near  Alcmim,  in  the  tomb  of  a 
monk,  a  parchment  codex  which,  among  other  texts,  contained  about 
sixty  verses  of  the  gospel  in  question.  They  are  those  which  relate 
to  the  story  of  the  Passion  and  the  Resurrection.  The  gospel  of  Peter 
was  known  before  only  through  the  quotations  of  Serapion  of  Antioch 


272  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

the  night  of  the  sabbath,  the  soldiers  who  were  guarding 
the  tomb  heard  a  great  voice  out  of  heaven;  they  lifted 
their  eyes;  the  heavens  were  opened,  and  two  shining  angels 
descended  and  approached  the  sepulchre.  The  stone  which 
served  as  a  door  moved  aside  of  itself;  the  two  angels 
entered,  and  the  soldiers  hastened  to  arouse  their  captain 
and  the  Jewish  elders  who  were  with  them  guarding  the 
tomb  and  who  were  asleep.  While  they  were  telling  them 
what  they  had  seen,  behold,  there  appeared  from  the  tomb 
three  men:  Jesus  Christ  upheld  by  the  two  angels;  the 
cross,  which  had  served  in  his  execution,  followed  them. 
The  angels  were  so  tall  that  their  heads  touched  the  sky; 
but  Jesus  was  taller  still,  and  his  head  rose  above  the 
heavens.  A  voice  came  down  from  the  sky,  saying,  "Hast 
thou  preached  to  those  who  sleep?"  And  a  reply  came 
from  the  cross,  sajdng,  "Yea."  The  company  ran  to  relate 
everything  to  Pilate.  Nevertheless,  at  dawn,  Mary  Mag- 
dalene came  to  the  tomb  with  some  other  women  to  anoint 
the  body.  An  angel  appeared  to  them  and  announced  to 
them  the  Resurrection,  and  they  fled  in  fear.  The  angel 
had  said  to  them:  "He  is  risen,  and  he  is  gone  whither 
he  was  bidden  to  go,  that  is  to  say,  to  heaven."  ^ 

The  gospel  of  Luke  ^  exhibits  a  tradition  that  is  already 
somewhat  different.  What  do  we  find  here?  First,  the 
account  of  the  women  at  the  tomb.  The  terms  of  this 
are  about  the  same  as  in  the  first  two  gospels.  Nevertheless, 
we  must  point  out  certain  features  that  are  different.  The 
personages  who  appear  are  "two  men  in  shining  garments." 
They  affirm  the  Resurrection  of  Christ.  On  their  return 
from  the  tomb  the  women,  three  of  whom  are  named  (Mary 

(Eusebius  vi,  12,  3)  ;  and  Origen.  Eusebius.  Theodoret  and  Jerome 
mention  its  name  only.  The  work  itself  must  have  appeared  between 
the  years  130  and  200,  we  do  not  know  exactly  where,  perhaps  in  Syria. 

3  This  resume  is  quoted  from  Staffer,  Jcsus-Christ,  sa  parsonne,  son 
autorite,  son  ccuvre,  t.  Ill,  pp.  236  et  seqq. 

*  Luke  xxiv. 


THE  RESURRECTION  273 

Magdalene,  Joanna,  and  Mary  the  mother  of  James,  but 
there  were  others  also),  carry  their  news  to  the  apostles, 
but  "their  words  seemed  to  them  as  idle  tales,  and  they 
believed  them  not."  It  must  be  added  that,  as  Luke  has 
it,  the  women  are  not  informed  of  the  place  where  the 
disciples  are  to  see  the  risen  one;  no  mention  is  made  of 
Galilee  in  this  connection. 

Luke  contains  also  the  episode  of  the  disciples  at  Em- 
maus.  Jesus  appears  in  person  to  two  disciples  on  the 
road  from  Jerusalem  to  Emmaus;  he  speaks  with  them 
without  their  recognising  him.  The  disciples  urge  him  to 
remain  with  them;  he  consents  to  do  so,  and  it  is  only  when 
they  are  sitting  at  meat  and  he  breaks  the  bread  that  they 
recognise  him.     "And  he  vanished  out  of  their  sight." 

Returning  in  haste  to  Jerusalem,  these  two  disciples  find 
the  eleven  gathered  together,  and  while  they  are  relating 
to  the  latter  what  they  have  seen,  Jesus  appears  in  the 
midst  of  them.  They  imagine  they  are  seeing  a  spirit,  but 
Jesus  shows  them  his  hands  and  feet,  tells  them  to  handle 
him  and  see  that  he  is  really  himself,  with  his  own  flesh 
and  bones,  and  eats  before  them  the  broiled  fish  and  the 
honeycomb.  Then  he  leads  them  to  Bethany  where  the 
Ascension  takes  place. 

Thus,  in  these  accounts  of  Luke,  we  have  a  resurrection 
of  the  very  body  which  Jesus  had  before  his  death.  All 
the  details  tend  to  show  that  Jesus  possesses  a  material 
body.  He  disappears  and  he  reappears,  it  is  true;  but  he 
eats,  he  carries  the  scars  of  his  wounds;  they  touch  him 
and  recognise  the  presence  of  the  flesh  and  the  bones. 
On  the  other  hand,  everything  takes  place  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Jerusalem:  at  Emmaus,  at  Jerusalem,  and  at  Beth- 
any. 

From  the  gospel  of  Luke  it  would  seem  that  all  these 
appearances  occurred  on  the  same  day,  or  during  two  days 


274  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

at  most.  In  the  book  of  the  Acts,  however,  Luke  is  more 
definite;  he  states  that  the  apparitions  lasted  over  a  period 
of  forty  days  and  that  they  terminated  in  the  Ascension, 
which  took  place  on  the  Mount  of  Olives.^ 

We  are  thus  clearly  in  the  presence  of  two  different 
traditions,  one  of  which  places  the  appearances  of  Jesus 
in  Galilee*'  and  gives  them  a  more  spiritual  character,  the 
other  placing  them  in  Judaea  and  dwelling  on  their  material 
nature. 

In  the  gospel  of  John,''  the  Galilean  tradition  and  the 
Jerusalemite  tradition  are  united,  which  is  in  keeping,  as 
we  have  said,  with  the  lateness  of  this  gospel.  Jesus  ap- 
pears to  Mary  Magdalene  near  the  sepulchre,  where  she 
is  weeping.  She  supposes  him  to  be  the  gardener  until 
he  calls  her  by  her  name;  then  she  recognises  him,  and 
Jesus  bids  her  go  and  tell  his  brethren  that  he  is  to  ascend 
to  his  Father  and  their  Father,  to  his  God  and  their  God. 
On  the  evening  of  the  same  day,  Jesus  comes  into  the  midst 
of  the  disciples  "when  the  doors  were  shut"  and  shows 
them  his  hands  and  his  side.  Here,  then,  we  have  imma- 
teriality, since  he  passes  through  the  doors,  and  materiality 
at  the  same  time,  since  he  causes  them  to  examine  his 
wounds.  Eight  days  later  occurs  the  episode  of  Thomas, 
in  which  this  sceptical  disciple  is  confronted  with  the  facts 
and  asked  to  behold  the  wounds  and  to  touch  them  with 
his  finger  and  his  hand.  Finally,  in  a  chapter  that  was 
added  to  the  gospel  later,  we  find  a  scene  in  Galilee:  the 
apparition  of  Jesus  on  the  shore  of  the  lake  of  Tiberias 
and  the  restoration  of  Peter  to  the  apostleship.^ 

5  Acts  i,  12. 

8  The  apparition  of  Jesus  to  the  women  at  the  tomb,  reported  by 
Matthew,  does  not  invalidate  this  remark;  we  observe,  indeed,  that  its 
sole  object  is  to  arrange  the  meeting  with  the  disciples  in  Galilee. 

7  John  XX. 

^Ibid.,  xxi. 


THE  RESURRECTION  275 

"According  to  the  Galilean  tradition,"  says  Stapfer,  "the 
Risen  One  has  but  an  ephemeral  life  and  makes  only  brief 
appearances.  According  to  the  Jerusalemite  tradition,  on 
the  contrary,  the  life  of  the  Risen  One  is  the  continuation 
pure  and  simple  of  his  earthly  life.  The  latter,  interrupted 
for  a  space  of  thirty-six  hours,  has  begun  again  as  it  was 
before.  The  days  of  the  Resurrection  are  days  supple- 
mentary to  those  of  the  earthly  ministry  of  Jesus  and  must 
be  added  to  it.  This  ministry  continues.  There  are,  it  is 
true,  two  differences:  Jesus  is  not  constantly  present  and 
he  is  not  always  recognisable.  He  is  transported  in  an 
instant  from  one  spot  to  another;  he  appears  and  dis- 
appears; but  he  has  the  same  body  that  was  laid  in  the 
tomb,  the  body  that  had  died  on  the  cross  and  become  a 
corpse.  This  body,  this  physical  organism,  has  become 
alive;  it  eats  and  drinks;  it  walks.  Jesus,  risen  from  the 
dead,  has  conversations  with  his  apostles,  just  as  in  former 
times. 

"It  is  interesting  to  observe  that  this  Jerusalemite  version 
of  the  tradition  becomes  continually  more  affirmative  in 
regard  to  a  materialisation  of  the  body  of  Jesus.  We  can 
easily  follow  the  steps  which  it  takes  in  this  direction. 
When  the  apostles  see  Jesus  for  the  first  time,  they  be- 
lieve they  are  seeing  a  spirit  (Luke  xxiv,  37).  But  Jesus 
speaks  to  them;  he  replies  in  advance  to  their  objections 
and  finally  eats  the  fish  and  the  honey  before  them.  This 
continuation  of  the  Master's  life  with  them  lasts  just  forty 
days;  the  number  is  determined  and,  at  the  final  appear- 
ance, the  material  body  of  Jesus  leaves  the  earth  and 
ascends  to  heaven,  to  the  abode  of  God,  who  is  above,  in 
the  blue  sky,  beyond  the  clouds.  From  this  day  forward 
Jesus  is  never  seen  again.  He  is  no  longer  present  cor- 
poreally on  the  earth.    Hitherto  he  has  been  so,  but  hence- 


276  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

forth  he  is  seated  in  heaven,  at  the  right  hand  of  God, 
and  he  is  not  to  return  till  the  Last  Judgment."  ^ 

As  we  reread  attentively  and  with  an  unbiased  mind  all 
the  evangelical  accounts  of  the  Resurrection  and  the  appear- 
ances which  followed  it,  this  is  certainly  the  impression  that 
dominates  us.  With  the  best  will  to  find  a  harmony  among 
them,  we  cannot  in  all  sincerity  escape  from  the  contradic- 
tions in  detail.  We  have  a  strong  feeling  that  these  appear- 
ances, accepted  at  first  with  the  enthusiasm  of  surprise 
and  emotion,  very  quickly  and  quite  naturally,  in  fact,  be- 
came the  object  of  criticism.  And  to  reply  to  the  objections 
of  those  about  them  the  faithful  emphasised  the  features 
which  made  of  the  body  of  Jesus  a  material  body.  They 
were  told  what  they  themselves  had  said  to  the  women  who 
came  to  give  them  the  news:  "You  have  been  dreaming; 
it  is  a  vision."  They  replied  by  supporting  their  inner 
certitude  with  arguments  of  fact.  Hence  the  Jerusalemite 
tradition,  born  in  an  environment  that  was  in  more  frequent 
contact  with  the  world  and  the  very  tenor  of  which  proves 
it  to  be  of  later  origin.  It  seems  likely  that  in  the  beginning 
the  accounts  of  the  appearances  did  not  dwell  particularly 
on  the  materiality  of  the  body  of  Jesus,  that  they  dwelt 
rather  on  the  reality  of  his  presence.  The  Galilean  tradi- 
tion has  an  air  of  candour  that  inspires  more  confidence. 

It  remains  exceedingly,  almost  insurmountably,  difficult 
to  harmonise  the  accounts  that  have  come  down  to  us  in 
such  a  way  as  to  discover  exactly  what  took  place.  But 
in  addition  to  the  reasons  which  we  have  for  preferring 
the  accounts,  or  the  portions  of  accounts,  that  do  not  insist 
on  the  materiality  of  the  body  of  Jesus  or  the  resurrection 
of  the  flesh,  we  have  a  still  more  peremptory  reason.  I  am 
referring  to  the  testimony  of  Saint  Paul,  whose  epistles 
are,  as  we  must  not  forget,  of  an  earlier  date  than  the 

9  Staffer,  op.  cit.,  Ill,  pp.  245-247. 


THE  RESURRECTION  277 

gospels  and  who  also  presents  himself  as  a  witness  of  the 
Resurrection  of  Jesus.  In  the  first  epistle  to  the  Corinthians 
does  he  not  say  in  these  unmistakable  words:  ''He  was 
seen  of  me  also"?  ^^  And  this  affirmation  is  all  the  more 
important  since  it  is  the  only  one  that  comes  from  an  eye- 
witness. In  the  gospels  we  have  the  echo  of  what  the 
apostles  said;  Saint  Paul  relates  what  he  saw  himself;  and 
he  relates  it  in  the  year  57,  that  is  to  say,  before  any 
of  the  gospels  had  been  committed  to  writing. 

Now  what  does  Saint  Paul  say?  In  the  first  place,  he 
stoutly  affirms  the  Resurrection,  the  fact  of  the  Resurrec- 
tion itself.  "If  Christ  be  not  risen,"  he  goes  so  far  as 
to  proclaim,  "then  is  our  preaching  vain,  and  your  faith 
is  also  vain.  Yea,  and  we  are  found  false  witnesses  of 
God."  "  "But  now  is  Christ  risen  from  the  dead,  and  be- 
come the  first  fruits  of  them  that  slept."  ^^  He  is  not 
content  with  affirming  this,  he  also  mentions  the  appear- 
ances, citing  six  of  them:  (i)  to  Peter;  (2)  to  the  Twelve; 
(3)  to  more  than  five  hundred  brethren;  (4)  to  James; 
(5)  to  all  the  apostles,  and  (6)  "last  of  all,"  he  says,  "he 
was  seen  of  me  also,  as  of  one  born  out  of  due  time.  For 
I  am  the  least  of  the  apostles."  ^'^ 

The  fact  of  the  Resurrection  is  thus  well  attested  by 
Paul.  But  what  does  he  mean  by  it?  Does  he  refer  to 
appearances  of  the  body  which  Jesus  had  before  his  death? 
Not  at  all.  In  the  same  chapter  Paul  protests  forcibly 
and  in  a  perfectly  explicit  manner  against  those  who  assert 
that  the  dead  rise  again  with  the  body  which  they  possessed 
on  earth:  "Thou  fool,"  he  says,  "that  which  thou  sowest 
is  not  quickened,  except  it  die:  and  that  which  thou  sowest, 
thou  sowest  not  that  body  that  shall  be,  but  bare  grain, 

10  I  Cor.  XV,  8. 
ii/fctif.,  14-15. 
i2  7fctd.,  20. 
^^^Ibid.,  5-9. 


278  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

it  may  chance  of  wheat,  or  of  some  other  grain:  but  God 
giveth  it  a  body  as  it  hath  pleased  him,  and  to  every  seed 
his  own  body."  ^^  "Now  this  I  say,  brethren,"  he  adds  a 
little  further  on,  "that  flesh  and  blood  cannot  inherit  the 
kingdom  of  God;  neither  doth  corruption  inherit  incor- 
ruption."  ^* 

The  apparition  with  which  Paul  was  favoured,  and  which 
was  no  doubt  that  on  the  road  to  Damascus,  must  therefore 
be  understood  in  this  sense.  Paul  did  not  see  the  material 
body  of  the  Saviour,  but  he  was  convinced  of  his  personal 
presence.  For  the  rest,  this  is  in  perfect  accord  with  the 
accounts  of  the  conversion  of  Paul  in  the  book  of  the  Acts, 
Chaps.  IX,  XXII,  and  XXVI,  and  with  the  passage  in  the 
epistle  to  the  Galatians  which  is  often  mistranslated:  "It 
pleased  God  to  reveal  his  son  in  me"  {rov  6i6v  avrov  iv 
epioi)}^  Paul,  in  Chapter  XV  of  the  first  epistle  to  the 
Corinthians,  establishes  a  striking  parallel  between  the 
Resurrection  of  Jesus  and  that  of  the  other  dead  who  will 
be  raised  again  to  a  new  life.  There  is  no  difference  in  na- 
ture between  the  one  and  the  others;  it  is  the  same  thing. 

But  how  does  he  represent  this  to  himself?  It  appears, 
as  we  read  the  passage  in  question,  that  he  pictures  the 
risen  Jesus,  and  for  that  matter  those  who  will  rise  after 
him  as  well,  as  in  possession  of  a  "spiritual  body."  This 
expression  is  recorded  in  I  Cor.  xv,  41  and  45.  It  is  true 
that,  in  the  last  analysis,  this  expression  does  not  teach 
us  very  much,  containing,  as  it  does,  a  contradiction  in 
terms.  May  we  not,  however,  from  the  very  fact  that 
Paul  falls  into  a  contradiction  in  terms  as  soon  as  he  tries 
to  express  his  experience,  deduce  some  indication  of  the 
nature  of  this  experience?    It  seems  to  me  that  we  may. 

13  1  Cor.  XV,  37-38. 
-^^Ibid.,  so. 
15  Gal.  i,  15. 


THE  RESURRECTION  279 

The  apostle  wished  to  account  for  the  quasi-corporeal  real- 
ity of  this  presence  of  Christ,  and  yet  he  knew  (and  how 
strongly  he  affirms  it!)  that  no  question  of  jiesh  and  blood 
was  involved.  The  expression  "spiritual  body"  is  an  at- 
tempt to  approximate  to  this  experience,  in  which  the 
material  language  of  sensations  becomes  unfit  for  the  ren- 
dering at  once  of  the  reality  of  the  fact  and  its  spirituality. 
If  there  is  a  contradiction  in  the  terms,  it  is  because  all 
the  expressions  which  we  have  at  our  disposal  for  the 
rendering  of  reality  are  impregnated  with  our  own  con- 
fusion of  reality  and  materiality." 

We  must  therefore  conclude  that  the  Resurrection  of 
Jesus  Christ  is  for  Saint  Paul  a  fact,  but  a  fact  of  the 
spiritual  order,  that  it  is  for  him  an  incontestable  reality, 
though  in  no  sense  material.  In  short,  the  experience  of 
Saint  Paul  is  much  more  closely  related  to  the  Galilean 
tradition  than  to  the  Jerusalemite  tradition.  And  consider- 
ing that  his  testimony  is  the  earliest  in  date,  this  is  of  great 
importance  for  the  interpretation  of  what  took  place. 

Such  are  the  various  reports  which  we  possess  concern- 
is  The  passage  in  the  epistle  to  the  Colossians  (ii,  9),  "For  in  him 
dwelleth  all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  bodily  (o-w/iaTiKws)"  does 
not  seem  to  me  to  alter  the  case,  for  Paul  is  unquestionably  speaking 
here  of  Christ  glorified,  a  Christ  to  whom  one  must  attach  oneself,  in 
whom  one  must  root  oneself,  by  whom  one  must  be  edified  (see  ii, 
6-7),  and  thus  of  an  entirely  spiritual  Christ.  The  adverb  "bodily" 
cannot  therefore  be  taken  in  a  carnal  sense.  Again,  in  the  passage 
Philip,  iii.  21,  in  which  the  apostle  speaks  of  the  "glorious  body"  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  it  is  to  be  observed  that  a  glorious  body  in  the 
sense  in  which  Saint  Paul  meant  it  has  nothing  to  do  with  a  body  of 
flesh ;  the  passage  I  Cor.  xv,  39-50  shows  this  admirably.  Even  if  we 
refer  to  the  first  epistle  to  the  Thessalonians  (I  Thess.  iv,  13-18) 
which  dates  from  a  period  when  Paul  was  still  expecting  the  return 
of  Christ  upon  earth,  we  find  no  expressions  that  point  to  a  resurrec- 
tion of  the  flesh^^  The  dead  will  rise  first,  says  Saint  Paul  (iv,  16).  but 
he  does  not  say  in  what  form ;  then  "we  which  are  alive  and  remain 
shall  be  caught  up  together  with  them  in  the  clouds,  to  meet  the  Lord 
in  the  air.  .  .  ."  But  here  again  there  is  no  precise  statement,  at  any 
rate  no  affirmation,  regarding  a  participation  of  the  flesh  in  this  ascen- 
sion in  the  air.  Saint  Paul  still  remained,  perhaps  instinctively,  vague 
in  regard  to  this  matter.  Later,  when  it  became  definite,  his  thought 
was  strictly  spiritualistic. 


28o  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

ing  the  Resurrection  of  Jesus,  We  have  tried  to  present, 
as  rapidly  and  summarily  as  possible,  their  substance  and 
value.    What  emerges  from  the  event  itself? 

§  2 .     THE    EVENT 

"The  statements  of  Saint  Paul,"  says  Stapfer,"  "help 
us  to  choose  between  the  two  evangelical  traditions  of 
which  we  have  spoken  above;  for  certain  it  is  that  between 
these  two  traditions  we  must  choose." 

We  shall  not  go  quite  as  far  as  that,  or  rather  we  shall 
go  further,  but  in  a  somewhat  different  direction  from  that 
of  Stapfer.  It  does  not  seem  to  us  that  in  the  present 
state  of  the  question  the  traditions  to  which  we  have  alluded 
have  been  sufficiently  delimited  for  a  choice  to  be  useful 
or  even  desirable.  It  is  true  that  we  can  discern  a  very 
clear  tendency  to  materialise  the  appearances  and  make  of 
the  Resurrection  an  event  that  is  physical  first  and  fore- 
most. Certain  statements  of  the  apostles,  placed  side  by 
side  with  those  of  Saint  Paul,  render  this  very  evident. 
But  does  it  follow  that  we  are  obliged,  or  even  able,  to 
make  a  choice?  We  do  not  think  so.  The  accounts  as 
we  have  them  are  precious  because  in  a  certain  sense  they 
indicate  the  evolution  of  the  psychology  of  the  Christian 
group;  in  this  respect  their  very  confusion  constitutes  a 
precious  element  of  knowledge,  and  the  respective  ages  of 
the  documents  also  mark  clearly  the  way  in  which  the 
development  took  place.  We  have,  in  fact,  in  the  accounts 
of  the  Resurrection,  not  only  the  affirmation  of  an  event, 
but  also  and  especially  the  testimony  as  to  the  manner 
in  which  this  event  was  understood,  its  progressive  and 
relatively  very  rapid  perversion  through  the  subconscious 
factors  that  are  ceaselessly  at  work  in  the  human  soul. 

1^  Staffer,  op.  cit.,  Ill,  p.  264. 


THE  RESURRECTION  281 

We  must  therefore  guard  against  making  a  choice  and 
thus  excluding  elements  that  are  too  useful  to  be  elimi- 
nated. It  is  much  better  to  accept  the  accounts  en  bloc, 
distinguish  the  currents  that  reveal  themselves  in  them,  and 
seek  to  understand  this  movement  and  its  underlying 
causes. 

At  the  outset,  then,  and  at  the  base  of  these  accounts, 
we  cannot  fail  to  recognise  that  there  exists  a  fact  of  the 
highest  grandeur  in  the  spiritual  sphere.  He  whom  they 
believed  dead  is  alive:  that  is  the  experience  of  the  dis- 
ciples. "Nevertheless  I  live;  yet  not  I,  but  Christ  liveth 
in  me,"  "  exclaims  Saint  Paul.  And  all  unite  in  recognising 
that  in  this  resides  the  very  essence  and  substance  of  the 
Christian  faith.  It  is  useless  to  return  to  what  has  been 
said,  and  well  said,  many  times,  in  this  connection.  The 
life  of  the  Christian  community,  the  change  in  the  attitude 
of  the  disciples,  the  rapid  development  of  the  Church,  its 
extension  and  its  missionary  work  would  remain  inexplicable 
save  for  some  spiritual  event  of  the  first  importance  that 
had  revolutionised  the  whole  psychology  of  the  first  be- 
lievers and  transformed  them  completely.  This  event,  ac- 
cording to  their  own  testimony,  was  the  Resurrection  of 
Jesus  Christ,  the  certitude  of  his  life,  to  which  death  has 
not  put  an  end,  the  contact  that  has  been  effected  between 
himself  and  them  in  such  a  way  as  to  leave  no  room  for 
doubt  on  their  part. 

This  supremely  joyous  and  inspiring  experience  of  the 
triumph  of  life  over  death,  of  the  reality  of  the  Resurrec- 
tion, an  experience  purely  spiritual  in  its  basis,  was  soon 
buried  beneath  the  mass  of  accretions  which  the  representa- 
tions of  the  senses  immediately  add  to  moral  realities  and 
which  fasten  upon  them  almost  by  force.  No  doubt  it 
was  impossible  that  it  should  have  been  otherwise.     This 

18  Gal.  ii,  20, 


282  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

sensible  support  of  a  spiritual  reality  was  probably  indis- 
pensable from  the  beginning.  The  apparitions,  whatever 
they  may  have  been,  and  even  if  one  regards  them  as  simple 
hallucinations,  could  not  have  failed  to  occur  as  physical 
concomitants  of  the  powerful  experience  that  invaded  the 
whole  personality  of  the  disciples  at  that  time.  We  shall 
not  try  to  settle  the  question,  realising  as  we  do  that  our 
knowledge  of  the  nature  of  matter,  as  well  as  of  the  appa- 
rition of  phantoms,  spirits,  the  disembodied  is  still  insuffi- 
cient to  allow  of  clear  and  definite  conclusions.  We  shall 
merely  remark  that  the  projection  into  sensible  paths  of  a 
spiritual  emotion  of  such  a  magnitude  would  amply  suffice 
to  create  the  corresponding  visual,  auditory,  or  motor  hal- 
lucinations. The  "spiritual  body"  of  Saint  Paul  and  the 
fugitive  and  fleeting  apparitions  of  the  Galilean  tradition 
would  find  a  sufficient  explanation  in  this. 

Very  quickly,  however,  the  need  for  a  physical  equivalent 
of  the  spiritual  impression,  which  already  appears  here, 
became  still  more  accentuated.  People  rapidly  came  to 
connect  the  spiritual  fact  of  the  Resurrection  not  merely 
with  the  vision  of  a  body  but  with  the  very  substance  of 
this  body.  To  believe  they  claimed  not  only  that  they 
had  seen  Jesus  and  heard  him  but  that  they  had  made 
certain  that  the  body  which  he  had  was  actually  his  old 
body,  the  corpse  that  had  been  laid  in  the  sepulchre.  They 
would  have  it  that  the  jlesh  had  participated  in  the  Resur- 
rection. This  is  the  second  stratum  in  the  accounts  of 
the  Resurrection,  in  which  Saint  Paul  participates  in  no 
way  whatever,  but  of  which  we  already  find  traces  in  Saint 
John  and  Saint  Luke. 

How  explain  this  development  in  the  accounts,  which 
already  constitutes  a  perversion?  While  the  problem  is 
almost  insoluble  from  the  critical  point  of  view,  it  is  not 
so  psychologically.    One  might  suggest  as  the  cause  of  this 


THE  RESURRECTION  283 

materialistic  evolution  in  the  conception  of  the  Resurrec- 
tion the  Jewish  ideas  according  to  which  a  soul  could  not 
be  understood  without  a  body.  It  is  undeniable  that  the 
Jews  had  difficulty  in  representing  the  existence  of  a  soul 
independently  of  the  body  which  was  its  support  and  habi- 
tation. But  the  tendency  which  we  observe  here  is  not 
exclusively  Jewish;  it  is  human;  it  is  one  of  the  most 
constant  tendencies  of  the  psychology  of  the  subconscious. 
To  transform  a  spiritual  fact  into  a  material  fact  is  pre- 
cisely the  course  of  procedure  that  has  been  observed  in 
the  progress  of  a  great  number  of  neuroses.  This  tendency 
counterbalances  the  effort  of  sublimation  that  is  ceaselessly 
suggested  to  the  consciousness,  and  offers,  in  place  of  this 
effort,  a  physiological  substitute;  or  rather  it  diverts,  by 
means  of  physical  movements  that  cost  no  effort  whatever, 
the  flight  towards  life  that  has  been  checked. 

But  let  us  be  more  definite.  The  following  process  has 
been  found  to  be  at  the  base  of  many  neuroses.  The  pa- 
tient, because  of  the  very  circumstances  of  his  life,  has 
been  obliged  to  repress  certain  tendencies,  certain  impulses 
of  his  deepest  nature  which  have  not  comported  with  his 
environment,  with  morality  or  accepted  opinions.  Hence- 
forth all  these  things  have  been  concealed  from  the  light 
of  day;  but  they  have  remained  alive  in  the  depths  of 
the  subconscious  sanctuary  and,  not  being  able  to  manifest 
themselves  in  words  or  actions,  have  adopted  a  roundabout 
path  which  is  precisely  that  of  the  body,  the  purely  physical 
life.  They  manifest  themselves  outwardly  under  the  form 
of  a  nervous  crisis,  a  gesture  incessantly  repeated,  a  tic, 
an  unconscious  movement  that  recurs  at  fixed  intervals. 
It  goes  without  saying  that  the  sufferer  is  completely  igno- 
rant of  the  relation  that  exists  between  his  crisis,  his  habit, 
his  tic,  and  his  spiritual  life;  and  yet  this  relation  is  real. 
In  order  to  avoid  realising  the  representations  that  distress 


284  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

him  or  obsess  him,  the  neurotic  has  projected  ^^  them  un- 
consciously into  his  body,  into  the  material  mechanism 
of  his  organism;  they  are  thus  condensed  into  a  gesture,  or, 
as  sometimes  happens,  into  a  physical  crisis  that  returns 
periodically;  and  this  purely  physical  issue  that  has  been 
given  to  the  spiritual  forces  relieves  him  in  a  way  by  dis- 
pensing him  from  returning  to  his  preoccupations  and  apply- 
ing his  mind  to  them.  This  sort  of  transposition  of  a  moral 
problem  into  a  bodily  illness  which  forms  the  basis  of  cer- 
tain neuroses  is  a  manifestation  of  the  congenital  indolence 
of  man  when  he  is  faced  with  the  task  of  solving  personally 
serious  problems  of  the  spiritual  order.  He  follows  here 
the  line  of  least  resistance;  and  rather  than  suffer  by  allow- 
ing himself  to  become  clearly  aware  of  what  he  is  and 
what  he  lacks,  or  by  undertaking  an  act  of  courage  or 
revolt  against  his  environment,  he  allows  the  combats  of 
the  spirit  to  be  transposed  in  terms  of  the  flesh  and  thus 
eludes  them. 

I  cannot  do  otherwise  than  connect  these  facts  on  the 
origin  of  neuroses  with  the  psychic  process  which  we  have 
just  seen  at  work  in  the  elaboration  of  the  accounts  of  the 
Resurrection.  Something  analogous,  or  at  least  approach- 
ing the  analogous,  has  taken  place  here.  The  same  psycho- 
logical laws  appear  to  be  at  work.  Men,  sinful  and  spiritu- 
ally lazy,  found  themselves  faced  with  a  death  and  a 
Resurrection  whose  spiritual  import  was  such  that  they 
could  not  dispense  themselves  from  a  personal  and  laborious 
participation  in  it.  This  drama  reverberated  to  the  very 
depths  of  their  hearts.  It  constituted  an  unanswerable 
appeal  to  their  consciences.     To  plunge  to  the  bottom  of 

19  On  the  phenomenon  of  projection,  see:  Ferenczi,  Introjektion  und 
Uebertragung,  ein-e  psychol.  Studie.  Jahrbuch  f.  psychoanal.  Forsch- 
ungen,  I,  1910. — Morel,  F.,  Essai  sur  I'introvcrsion  mystique.  Geneva, 
IQ18. — Pfister,  O.,  Die  psychanalytische  Methode  (under  the  word 
Projektion  in  the  index). — Cf.  also  Freud,  Zur  Psychopathologie  des 
Alltagslebens.    BerHn,  Karger,  1912,  4th  ed.,  pp.  198. 


THE  RESURRECTION  285 

this  spiritual  fact:  the  glorious  and  triumphant  life  of  Jesus, 
following  his  ignominious  death, — was  to  be  unable  to  re- 
sist his  example  and  the  contagion  of  his  example,  it  was 
to  commit  oneself  whole-heartedly  to  the  paths  of  sacrifice 
and  to  accept  in  earnest  the  death  of  the  self  that  wins  life. 
But  what  renunciations  lie  along  that  path,  what  a  sus- 
tained effort  of  sublimation  for  all  the  instincts!  It  re- 
quired the  flinging  of  one's  whole  personality  into  the  strug- 
gle, as  if  one's  life  were  at  stake;  it  required  the  risking 
of  one's  self  in  order  to  live. 

I  do  not  say  that  this  inward  struggle  was  conscious 
among  the  first  Christians;  on  the  contrary,  it  was  not  so,^** 
and  it  was  by  yielding  instinctively  to  the  law  of  least 
resistance  that  they  soon  began  to  project  the  drama  of 
the  death  and  Resurrection  of  Christ  into  the  physical  realm, 
to  restrict  and  relegate  it  to  the  corporeal,  to  turn  it  into 
a  material  and  organic  process  which  one  could  henceforth 
limit  oneself  to  contemplating  from  the  outside  without 
living  it. 

This  tendency,  for  the  rest,  is  to  be  found  throughout 
the  whole  course  of  the  ecclesiastical  evolution.  The  Church 
has  unceasingly  transposed  the  spiritual  into  the  physical, 
well  knowing  that  this  transposition  is  mor  >  pleasing  to  the 
masses  and  attracts  them  more  than  the  bare  and  sober 
spiritual  reality.  It  was  thus  that  people  arrived  at  the 
worship  of  relics  and  the  veneration  of  holy  bodies,  which 
dispense  one  from  inquiring  into  the  lives  of  the  saints  and 
making  an  effort  to  imitate  them  in  order  to  realise  in 
oneself  the  process  by  which  these  lives  became  remarkable 
and  strong. 

We  thus  discover  in  the  tendency  that  little  by  little  lays 
stress  upon  the  revivification  of  the  body  and  the  flesh 

20  Neuropaths  are  no  more  conscious  of  what  is  taking  place  in  them 
or  of  the  psychic  and  moral  origins  of  their  illness. 


286  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

while  gradually  allowing  the  spiritual  Resurrection  to  sink 
into  the  shadow,  the  same  psychic  forces  at  work,  or  rather 
the  same  inhibitions  and  the  same  passivity,  as  those  which 
become  morbid  in  the  neuroses  and  create  those  abnormal 
states  from  which  so  many  people  are  suffering  to-day.  The 
human  spirit  recoils  before  the  moral  effort  and  the  spiritual 
labour  that  are  demanded  by  the  actually  lived  death  and 
Resurrection.  Ardently  solicited  by  the  life,  death,  and 
Resurrection  of  Christ  to  enter  upon  the  path  of  an  actual 
spiritual  realisation  of  these  great  facts,  man  is  impeded 
and  held  back  by  all  the  resistances  of  his  egoism  and  indo- 
lence, and  by  all  the  obstacles  which  the  world  and  the 
things  of  the  world  accumulate  along  his  way.  Thus,  by 
an  unconscious  subterfuge,  he  shifts  the  force  of  his  desire 
into  a  roundabout  path,  that  of  materialisation;  he  con- 
verts into  an  act  of  the  body  that  which  ought  to  have 
flowered  in  an  act  of  the  spirit.  He  proclaims  the  Resurrec- 
tion of  a  body,  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ,  which  is,  after  all, 
as  foreign  to  him  as  the  body  of  the  neurotic  is  foreign  to 
the  sufferer  during  his  crises — instead  of  entering  into  a 
direct  spiritual  communion  with  the  spirit  of  the  dead  and 
risen  Christ  and  living  spiritually  that  which  this  com- 
munion implies.  He  diverts  into  an  outward  gesture  that 
is  independent  of  his  will,  the  energies  that  should  have 
made  him  live;  and,  repressing  the  obligation  to  die  and 
rise  again  after  the  example  of  his  Saviour  and  with  him, 
the  Christian  gives  himself  the  spectacle  of  the  Resurrection 
of  Christ  as  a  physical  fact  that  is,  in  consequence,  foreign 
to  his  own  person  and  performed  outside  it. 

In  clinging  to  the  bodily  Resurrection  of  Jesus,  in  short, 
we  simply  reject  and  remove  from  ourselves  an  act  in  which 
our  spirit  ought  to  take  part,  so  to  speak,  biologically.  We 
cut  off  the  communion  with  the  Christ  who  died  and  rose 
again  in  newness  of  life,  in  the  same  way  that  the  neurotic 


THE  RESURRECTION  287 

cuts  off  the  living  and  conscious  communion  with  his  body 
and  allows  it  to  act  in  the  manner  of  a  machine  which  has 
escaped  from  his  conscious  control.  In  this  way  we  tend 
to  make  of  the  Resurrection  of  Jesus  a  drama  that  takes 
place  outside  the  life  of  the  Spirit  and  beside  it,  a  tragedy 
exclusively  symbolical  in  character  in  which  it  is  no  longer 
necessary  to  participate  oneself  and  which  develops  its 
effects  in  the  world  without  our  co-operation.  The  Resur- 
rection thus  becomes  a  pure  spectacle  for  contemplation 
which  veils  from  us  the  spiritual  reality  and  prevents  its 
fulfilment — exactly  as  the  crises  or  the  frequently  ridiculous 
tics  of  the  neurotics  represent  physically  an  extremely  im- 
portant moral  drama  which  they  also  dissemble  by  diverting 
it  along  lower  paths  where  it  is  transformed  into  a  mean- 
ingless gesture. 

The  drama  of  a  life  that  was  played  imaginatively  out- 
side the  personality,  the  creation  of  a  physical  symbol  that 
exempted  one  from  living  the  reality — this  was  what  the 
Mystery-Religions  had  presented  to  souls  that  were  thirst- 
ing for  concrete  reality.  Deeply  engraved  upon  all  the 
myths  of  the  dead  and  risen  gods  of  antiquity  we  find  this 
fallacious  fulfilment  of  human  desire.  And  this  same  ten- 
dency to  replace  life  by  the  game  of  life,  the  action  by 
the  spectacle,  has  continued  to  operate  in  the  human  mind 
since  the  career  of  Jesus  just  as  it  did  before.  It  has  been 
perceptible  in  the  Christian  Church  from  the  very  begin- 
ning; hence  it  is  not  surprising  that  such  a  theologian  as 
Strauss,  examining  the  accounts  of  the  Resurrection  in  the 
gospels  and  finding  in  them  thus  early  the  first  lineaments 
of  this  psychic  tendency,  should  have  concluded  that  it 
was  a  myth  and  reduced  the  whole  story  of  the  Resurrec- 
tion of  Jesus  to  a  mythical  construction. 

What  can  we  reply  to  this  contention  and  the  arguments 
upon  which  it  is  founded?    We  can  reply  with  a  great  fact 


288  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

that  is  historic.  It  is  this:  that  the  life,  the  death,  and 
the  Resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ  put  an  end  to  the  creation 
of  the  divine  myths  of  death  and  resurrection.  This  fact, 
which  may  easily  be  demonstrated  and  is  amply  supported 
by  evidence,  constitutes  a  peremptory  and  decisive  argu- 
ment. Before  Jesus  Christ  the  human  soul  was  perpetu- 
ally recreating,  under  constantly  new  and  always  insufficient 
forms,  myths  that  endeavoured  to  express  and  symbolise, 
even  while  they  perverted  it,  its  incessantly  reborn  aspira- 
tion. It  had  to  have  saviour-gods  who  died  and  returned 
to  life:  Attis,  Dionysus,  Cybele,  Isis.  With  Jesus  Christ 
this  creation  of  the  imagination  definitely  ceased.  The  Res- 
urrection of  Christ  put  an  end,  among  the  peoples  who  had 
known  him,  to  all  the  myths  of  resurrection. 

Does  not  this  mean  that  the  unsatisfied  need  of  the  human 
soul  had  found  here  its  full  and  entire  satisfaction,  and 
that  ever  since  then  spirits  in  quest  of  a  new  birth  who  have 
sought  it  sincerely  have  found  it  in  spiritual  contact  with 
Jesus  Christ,  dead  and  risen?  The  need  of  an  immortal 
life  and  the  desire  for  a  new  birth  which  have  tormented 
the  subconsciousness  of  the  human  soul  and  deluded  it  by 
symbolising  death  and  resurrection  in  myths  in  which  in- 
vented gods  have  played  before  men  the  inner  tragedy  of 
the  spirit — this  need  and  this  desire  have  been  fulfilled 
biologically.  A  man  has  lived  through,  has  realised  in  the 
bald  verity  of  facts,  in  the  web  of  action,  decision,  feeling, 
this  psychic  process  of  death  to  self  and  resurrection  which 
hitherto  people  have  only  succeeded  in  describing  in  poetic 
imagery  and  ritualistic  symbols.  Henceforth,  there  is  no 
longer  a  reason  for  inventing  imaginary  substitutes,  for 
eluding  the  imperious  psychic  demand  for  the  death  of  the 
ego  and  its  effective  rebirth  by  projecting  its  principal 
features  into  an  invented  story  in  such  a  way  that  one  may 
escape  them  and  rid  oneself  of  them.     The  realisation  has 


THE  RESURRECTION  289 

embodied  itself  in  facts;  people  can  see  it  is  alive,  they  can 
feel  it  is  alive,  that  soul  of  Christ  which  has  passed  through 
the  death  that  he  accepted.  Jesus  put  an  end  to  the  myths 
of  the  saviour-gods  because  he  lived  through  the  moral 
and  psychic  reality  which  the  myths  of  death  and  resur- 
rection expressed  in  the  language  of  symbolism.  The  very 
fact  of  the  complete  decadence  of  the  contemporaneous 
religions  proves  that  humanity  no  longer  needed  them,  that 
it  possessed  henceforth  in  Christ  the  spiritual  reality  of 
which,  in  the  preceding  cults,  it  had  had  but  the  shadow. 

In  opposition  to  Strauss,  we  shall  insist  then,  in  the  name 
of  the  very  facts  of  history,  that  something  was  changed 
by  the  death  and  the  Resurrection  of  Christ.  The  incessant 
mythical  elaboration,  that  symptom  of  the  anxiety  of  per- 
petually unsatisfied  souls,  is  arrested.  And  one  myth  added 
to  the  others  has  never  produced  this  result.  Thus  there 
must  have  been  something  here  that  was  different  from 
a  myth  and  more  than  a  myth:  a  response  to  the  deepest 
inner  needs  of  the  soul,  a  fulfilment  of  its  restless  search, 
the  realisation  of  the  process  of  life  for  which  it  has  sighed. 

The  Resurrection  of  Christ,  the  reality  of  his  glorious 
and  triumphant  life,  is  and  remains,  in  this  sense,  the  certi- 
tude that  has  overthrown  all  the  idolatries  by  implanting 
in  the  very  heart  of  humanity  the  faith  in  the  possibility 
of  a  life  that  is  victorious  even  over  death.  It  is  because 
the  disciples  knew  that  Jesus  Christ  was  alive  after  they 
had  seen  him  die  that  they  were  able  later  to  desire,  in 
the  very  substance  of  their  spiritual  life,  the  successive 
deaths  to  oneself  which  create  life;  it  is  thanks  to  this 
that  Christians,  instead  of  merely  introducing  a  new  cult 
into  the  world,  have  infused  a  new  life  into  the  veins  of 
humanity. 

But  Strauss  was  not  entirely  wrong.  Along  with  the 
Resurrection  and  the  affirmation  of  the  Resurrection,  the 


290  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

accounts  of  the  gospels  also  contain  an  incipient  myth, 
the  beginnings  of  a  mythological  construction  that  is  born 
again  here,  so  true  it  is  that  the  human  spirit  never  entirely 
loses  its  bad  habits  and  that  the  disastrous  tendencies  of 
the  soul  always  return.  The  doctrine  of  the  Resurrection 
of  the  body  and  the  flesh  is  nothing  else  than  the  myth 
which  tends  to  reappear  in  opposition  to  the  spiritual  reality, 
and  that  in  the  very  bosom  of  the  religion  which  gave  the 
death-blow  to  the  pagan  myths;  it  is  the  play-drama  as 
opposed  to  the  drama  which  must  be  lived  spiritually  and 
in  which  one  must  take  part  personally,  the  spectacle  pre- 
ferred to  the  combat  in  which  one  risks  one's  person. 
Through  Jesus  Christ  the  death  and  the  new  birth  became 
the  flesh  and  blood  of  humanity,  but  the  resistance  has 
grown  equally  with  the  revelation.  Rather  than  pass  oneself 
through  this  death  and  this  birth  one  will  relegate  them  to 
the  individual  body  of  him  who  first  realised  them;  one 
will  set  them  aside  and  outside  humanity  and  Christ  will 
bear  off  the  victory  without  humanity  and  for  it,  in  its 
place  and  not  in  it. 

Jesus  gave  himself  entirely  to  men;  he  is  dead  but  he 
lives;  through  him  and  in  him  one  can,  then,  by  dying,  live 
also.  But  to  evade  this  communion  of  the  spirit,  which 
is  a  struggle,  a  torture,  a  death  followed  by  the  crowning 
of  life,  to  evade  risking  itself  in  the  adventure,  human 
nature  invents  a  subterfuge  and  substitutes  a  physical  magic 
for  the  communion  of  the  spirit.  It  returns,  by  a  detour, 
to  the  old  myth.  In  this  Strauss  was  right.  The  insistence 
on  the  resurrection  of  the  body  in  the  gospel  accounts  is 
a  return,  in  the  Christian  field,  to  the  tendency  of  the 
myth,  an  atavistic  revival  of  a  state  of  the  spirit  which 
Christianity  ought  to  have  abolished,  but  which  it  has  not 
yet  entirely  eliminated. 

It  is  also  a  way  of  ridding  oneself  of  the  spiritual  Christ 


THE  RESURRECTION  291 

— who  sweeps  one  along  the  paths  of  sacrifice  towards  the 
life  of  the  spirit  with  its  struggles  and  its  renunciations — 
by  substituting  for  this  living  Christ  a  deformed  and 
materialised  image,  a  mythical  figure  in  which  the  corpse 
on  the  cross,  the  wounds,  and  that  same  flesh,  brought  back 
to  life  and  ascending  into  heaven,  play  the  great  role."^ 
To  avoid  participating  in  a  death  and  a  resurrection  which 
are  meaningless  unless  we  realise  them  ourselves,  in  our- 
selves, through  Christ — to  escape  this  spiritual  test  which 
passes  through  sacrifice  before  attaining  to  glory,  our  in- 
dolent dream  invents  a  special  body,  a  miraculous  flesh 
which  alone  could  escape  corruption  and,  also  alone,  return 
to  life — a  spectacle,  in  short,  in  which  it  is  sufficient  to 
believe  and  in  which  we  are  exempted  from  taking  part. 
Jesus  is  thus  uprooted  from  humanity  like  a  foreign  body 
the  presence  of  which  causes  suffering  to  our  too  delicate 
spirit.  When  we  content  ourselves  with  believing  "  in  the 
resurrection  of  his  flesh,  we  separate  ourselves  from  him 
as  from  an  exceptional  being;  we  dispense  ourselves  from 
suffering  what  he  suffered,  from  willing  what  he  willed, 
from  being  born  into  his  life  by  dying  his  death.  We 
create  for  ourselves  a  morbid  Christianity  in  which  the 
acts  and  gestures  of  a  holy  body  replace  for  us  the  processes 
of  the  spirit.  And  we  do  not  perceive  that,  like  the  neu- 
rotics, we  have  turned  aside  along  the  paths  of  the  physical 
organism  and  reduced  to  a  mere  symbolic  imitation  the  very 
adventure  of  life  that  has  required  the  whole  of  us  for  its 
service. 

No!  The  Resurrection  of  Jesus  does  not  signify  the  re- 
turn of  a  carnal  body  to  life  that  it  may  later  ascend  to 
heaven  just  as  it  is;   it  does  not  signify  an  invasion  of 

21  See,  in  this  connection,  the  repulsive  details  of  a  certain  very 
fervent  type  of  piety  in  Pfister,  Die  Frommigkeit  des  Grafen  Ludwig 
von  Zinzendorf.     Leipzig,  Deuticke,  IQIO,  pp.   122. 

22  With  a  purely  intellectual  belief. 


292  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

heaven  by  the  flesh.  What  we  have  here  is  rather  the  first 
spiritual  life  that  ever  triumphed  over  the  obstacles  and 
the  barriers  of  the  flesh  and  that  comes  to  add  its  energies 
to  ours  so  as  to  open  to  us  the  way  to  this  triumph  and 
render  it  possible.  The  Resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ  is 
the  new  birth  realised  and  made  glorious  in  the  heart  of 
men  so  that  they,  in  their  turn,0nay  have  the  strength  and 
courage  to  hazard  the  death  of  themselves,  knowing  that 
life  lies  beyond.3 

Let  us  draw  a  practical  conclusion.  For  a  whole  category 
of  Christians,  of  whom  we  find  to-day  representatives 
equally  in  Catholic  orthodoxy  and  Protestant  orthodoxy, 
the  Resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ  has  become  a  belief  which, 
when  it  comes  to  the  point,  exempts  one  from  undergoing 
oneself  the  tragedy  of  a  personal  death  and  resurrection.  To 
such  minds  as  these,  the  Resurrection  is  nothing  but  a 
material  fact  which,  in  its  time,  demonstrated  the  inter- 
vention of  the  power  of  God  in  the  order  of  material  facts. 
God  brought  a  corpse  back  to  life  two  thousand  years  ago. 
As  we  were  not  witnesses  of  this,  it  is  enough  for  us,  in 
order  to  be  Christians,  to  believe  that  it  happened,  to  cleave 
to  this  fact  with  a  purely  intellectual  belief.  We  still  know, 
in  our  own  day,  great  numbers  of  people  who  consider  that 
to  be  a  Christian  consists  in  just  this,  and  that  it  is  enough 
to  admit  that  certain  material  events  really  took  place  in 
order  to  receive  the  benefit  of  the  promises  of  life.  A  very 
paltry,  a  singularly  mean  idea  to  form  of  God! 

As  for  ourselves,  we  believe  that  it  is  impossible  even 
to  conceive  what  the  Resurrection  of  Christ  signifies  with- 
out having,  to  a  certain  degree,  experienced  what  it  is  to 
die  with  him.  He  reveals  himself  as  living  only  to  those 
who  have,  in  some  way,  gone  down  with  him  to  death,  to 
those  who  have  at  least  vibrated  to  the  emotions  and  the 
experiences  through  which  he  passed.    One  will  never  sue- 


THE  RESURRECTION  293 

ceed  in  feeling  what  the  true  Resurrection  is  save  along  this 
road.  To  turn  the  Resurrection  into  a  fact  of  the  material 
order  is  thus  to  misunderstand  its  nature;  it  is  to  choose 
the  symbol  in  preference  to  the  reality.  On  the  other 
hand,  by  dying  to  oneself,  by  following  the  Christ  who 
bears  his  cross  even  to  Golgotha,  one  becomes  capable,  little 
by  little,  of  feeling  him  and  knowing  him  as  alive.  Strive 
as  one  may  to  attain  to  this  through  an  effort  of  belief, 
one  only  succeeds  in  affirming  a  material  fact  which  of 
itself  changes  nothing  and  contributes  nothing  to  life.  It 
is  not  by  believing  in  the  Resurrection  of  the  flesh  that 
we  can  become  new  beings;  it  is  only  by  experiencing  the 
life  of  him  with  whom  and  in  whose  footsteps  one  desires 
to  die  daily. 

The  experience  of  the  Resurrection  of  Christ  is  perhaps 
the  supremely  triumphant  and  the  most  powerful  of  the 
Christian  experiences,  but  it  is  not  the  affirmation  of  a 
material  fact;  it  is  the  irrevocable  testimony  of  a  spiritual 
contact  which  takes  place  only  along  the  path  of  death 
to  self.  To  affirm  that  it  is  anything  else  is  to  prevent 
oneself  from  feeling  it,  and  those  who  believe  that  it  is  so 
are  often  the  furthest  from  experiencing  its  vital  value. 

I  do  not  mean  by  this  to  deny  that  there  exist  orthodox 
Christians  who  are  also  living  Christians.  On  the  contrary; 
but  if  they  are  such  it  is  not  in  virtue  of  their  belief  in  the 
material  fact  of  the  Resurrection  but  rather  because,  aside 
from  this  belief,  they  have  lived  in  direct  communion  with 
Christ  and  have  passed  with  him  through  that  death  which 
leads  to  life.  Unfortunately,  there  are  others  who,  inherit- 
ing from  their  co-religionists  only  the  belief  without  the  ex- 
perience, firmly  uphold  the  material  fact  of  the  Resurrec- 
tion without  ever  having  known  what  it  was  to  die  and 
return  to  life,  because  they  have  been  content  to  believe 
without  living,  without  passing  through  the  vital  experiences 


294  ASPECTS  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 

that  make  a  Christian  of  a  man.  It  is  these  who  are  to 
be  pitied  since  they  are  the  victims  of  that  sort  of  neurosis 
of  the  religious  sentiment  which  transmutes  into  objects 
of  belief  acts  of  life  that  might  be  called,  in  a  certain  sense, 
duties  of  the  Spirit,  in  the  accomplishment  of  which  one 
meets  face  to  face  Him  who  is  eternally  alive  and  becomes 
oneself  ahve. 

What,  then,  is  the  Resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ?  We 
may  define  it  as  an  experience  of  life,  and  by  this  we  mean 
an  experience  through  which  one  passes  as  a  living  being, 
which  attests  itself  in  one  not  through  an  effort  of  thought 
or  will  or  through  an  exaltation  of  the  emotions,  but  through 
the  opening  of  the  whole  being  to  a  new  life  along  the  very 
path  of  the  gift  of  self  and  the  death  to  self.  Thus  it  is 
only  by  returning  to  life  oneself,  by  acceding  to  the  new 
life  of  the  Spirit,  that  one  truly  learns,  that  one  knows 
that  Christ  is  living.  And  this  indeed  was  the  Pentecost 
which  made  of  the  apostles  living  beings  and  conquerors. 

It  is  therefore  not  outside  life,  or  beside  it,  that  we  seek 
our  certitudes  of  faith.  But,  having  faith  in  life,  we  do 
not  avoid  the  struggles  and  the  deaths  to  which  it  leads  us, 
and  we  find,  in  the  bloody  combat  which  confronts  us.  Him 
who  first  braved  this  combat,  more  alive  than  ever,  and 
present  in  the  innermost  consciousness  of  the  personality 
which  we  have  surrendered  and  found  again. 

END  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  JESUS 


APPENDIX 
THE  POETRY  OF  JESUS 

Let  us  define  first  of  all  what  we  mean  by  the  poetry 
of  Jesus.  We  are  not  speaking  of  the  poetry  that  sur- 
rounds like  a  golden  nimbus  the  stories  of  the  gospels, 
or  that  which  drifts  about  the  manger  and  the  wise  men 
or  whispers  like  a  soft  breeze  round  the  peaceful  house 
at  Bethany  or  under  the  palms  and  in  the  gardens  of 
Jericho.  It  is  not  the  poetry  that  surrounded  Jesus  Christ 
of  which  I  should  like  to  speak  here,  but  that  which  he  had 
in  his  heart,  the  intuition  that  made  him  observe  the  charm 
of  these  things  and,  while  conferring  on  them  a  new  mean- 
ing, engraved  them  forever  in  the  memory  of  his  disciples. 

For  Jesus,  whatever  else  may  be  thought  of  him,  was  a 
poet,  a  marvellous  poet.  Let  it  be  understood  that  in 
making  this  assertion  I  am  not  attempting  to  write  poetry 
myself;  I  am  simply  attempting  to  state  a  fact,  a  fact  which, 
in  my  eyes,  is  of  great  importance. 

What,  in  reality,  is  it  to  be  a  poet?  It  does  not  consist, 
as  some  people  think,  in  composing  impeccable  verses  on 
this  or  that  subject;  there  are  great  poets  who  have  never 
written  a  phrase  in  verse.  Nor  is  it  to  be  able  to  produce 
magnificent  tales  in  a  cadenced  and  rhythmic  prose.  There 
are  undoubtedly  great  poets,  perhaps  the  greatest  of  all, 
who  have  never  written  or  published  a  line. 

To  be  a  poet  is  to  feel  in  a  certain  manner  the  realities 
that  surround  one;  it  is  to  possess  in  oneself  that  divine 
sense  which  makes  one  perceive  intense  harmonies,  by  turns 
joyous  and  solemn,  stamped  with  a  religious  sublimity  or 

295 


296  APPENDIX 

with  a  mysterious  grandeur,  in  everything  that  arouses  or 
attracts  one's  attention.  A  poet  is  a  man  who  feels  the 
Universe  taking  life  within  himself,  who  sees  in  the  spec- 
tacle of  everyday  existence  the  reflection  of  higher  verities 
which  the  human  eye  hardly  dares  to  contemplate. 

Jesus  was  a  poet  in  this  sense,  more  of  a  poet  and  a  better 
poet  than  the  greatest  of  men.  He  possessed  as  no  one  else 
has  possessed  the  intuition  of  those  underlying  harmonies 
that  reconcile  all  things  in  the  majestic  unity  of  God.  He 
felt  as  no  one  else  has  felt  the  unspeakable  joy  of  those 
harmonies  and  that  rhythm,  as  well  as  the  poignant  tragedy 
that  sometimes  springs  out  of  them.  Some  of  this  radiant 
and  sublime  poetry  found  expression  in  the  name  of  Father 
which  he  taught  us  to  pronounce  and  to  give  to  God. 
By  following  him  along  the  shining  paths  he  trod  one  learns 
to  rid  oneself  of  the  artificial  and  factitious  poetry  of  words 
and  to  know  the  true  poetry,  that  which  animates  life  with 
a  breath  of  sincerity  and  infuses  into  it  the  divine,  con- 
soling forces. 

The  ages  of  life  do  not  all  have  the  same  poetry.  The 
child  plunges  into  nature;  he  lives  in  it,  communes  with 
it  in  a  way  of  his  own  and  with  a  calm  unconsciousness 
which  makes  of  this  communion  so  serene  and  so  beautiful 
a  reality  that  one  never  finds  anything  like  it  again.  The 
child  floats  in  a  lyric  world. 

Later,  as  he  reaches  the  age  of  responsibilities,  man 
draws  closer  to  his  brothers  and  lives  the  epic  of  the  heroes 
of  humanity.  The  poems  which  he  then  enjoys  are  those 
that  tell  of  man  and  his  deeds  of  valour. 

Then,  when  the  hour  for  personal  action  approaches, 
the  hour  when  he  must  show  what  he  is  worth  and  par- 
ticipate in  the  human  task,  it  seems  as  if  the  poetry  of  other 
days  had  been  effaced  to  make  room  for  realities  that  are 
all  too  real.     But  as  he  that  has  eyes  can  easily  see,  it 


THE  POETRY  OF  JESUS  297 

has  only  left  the  domain  of  the  imagination  to  return  in 
deeds  and  actions.  Man  then  lives  his  destiny,  and  he 
lives  it  tragically.  Tragedy  watches,  fully  armed,  at  his 
side  and  speaks  to  him  in  its  dramatic,  richly  coloured 
voice. 

The  lyricism  of  nature,  the  epic  of  life,  the  drama  of 
the  last  moments  and  the  cross:  one  finds  in  Jesus  these 
three  ages  of  poetry.  He  lived  them  with  splendid  intensity 
and  pov/er.  It  is  because  we  are  too  accustomed  to  the 
stories  of  the  gospels  that  we  do  not  catch  the  splendour 
of  this  poetry  in  them.  But  it  is  enough  for  our  attention 
to  be  drawn  to  this  characteristic  of  the  life  of  Jesus  for 
the  words  to  leap  before  our  eyes  as  we  turn  to  them  again, 
for  the  whole  story,  read  and  reread  so  many  times,  to  sing 
to  us  like  a  new  poem. 

Listen,  all  you  who  are  heavy  laden,  you  who  are  tired 
of  life!  You  walk  with  bowed  heads  bent  over  your  daily 
task.  You  are  disgusted  with  your  brother  men  and  their 
doings.    You  no  longer  have  the  eyes  you  had  as  children. 

Well,  come,  let  us  go  forth  for  a  moment  and  follow 
Jesus.  Behold  him  there!  It  is  himself.  He  is  walking 
in  that  calm  and  radiant  countryside  of  Palestine.  He 
advances  to  the  shore  of  the  lake.  The  fishermen  are 
mending  their  nets  on  the  beach.  He  looks  at  them,  and 
suddenly  a  shaft  of  light  unites  for  him  the  slow  and  meas- 
ured gestures  of  these  swarthy  men  toiling  in  the  hot  sun 
with  the  great  work  that  fills  his  heart.  "Come  ye  after 
me,"  he  says  to  them,  "and  I  will  make  you  to  become 
fishers  of  men'' 

Yonder  on  the  rim  of  the  horizon,  an  Oriental  town,  a 
white  town,  outlines  on  the  edge  of  the  sky  the  bluish 
shadow  of  its  houses.  One  sees  it,  whatever  one  may  be 
doing.  Every  time  Jesus  lifts  his  head  it  is  there  before 
him.     It  becomes  an  obsession  to  him.     Since  its  white 


298  APPENDIX 

houses  fix  his  attention  in  this  way,  no  doubt  this  town 
has  a  message  for  him  from  God.  He  wonders,  he  looks, 
he  listens  ...  at  last  he  has  found  it;  and  when  he  returns 
to  the  village  he  bears  in  his  heart,  like  a  treasure,  the 
secret  of  a  new  revelation  for  his  disciples.  The  next  day 
he  will  say  to  them:  "A  city  that  is  set  on  an  hill  cannot 
be  hid.  Neither  do  men  light  a  candle,  and  put  it  under 
a  bushel.     Ye  are  the  light  of  the  world."  ^ 

Mornings  have  passed  and  evenings  also.  To-day  he  is 
going  to  leave  men  and  the  sounds  of  toil  behind  him.  He 
feels  the  need  of  solitude  and  meditation.  His  steps  lead 
him  to  the  fields;  he  moves  on,  brushing  with  his  sandals 
the  tall  grasses  starred  with  numberless  red  and  violet 
anemones.  Here  and  there  the  meadow  lilies,  deliciously 
white  and  velvety,  open  like  a  secret  perfume.  Under  the 
last  rays  of  the  late  sun  the  wide  brow  of  the  Master 
bends.  Of  a  sudden  he  sees  these  flowers,  all  these  flowers 
that  seem  to  have  sprung  up  about  him  by  magic.  A 
moment  ago,  lost  in  his  reflections,  he  was  thinking  of  his 
disciples,  of  their  difficulties,  the  hardships  of  their  life. 
Now,  escaping  from  this  dialogue  with  himself,  he  contem- 
plates what  the  Father  has  placed  beneath  his  feet.  In 
the  deep  silence  of  the  country  a  bird  is  singing;  and  while 
twilight  falls  softly  the  Master  returns  with  a  slower  step. 
To-morrow  he  will  tell  these  toiling  men  of  their  good  for- 
tune; he  will  say:  "Behold  the  fowls  of  the  air:  for  they 
sow  not,  neither  do  they  reap,  nor  gather  into  barns;  yet 
your  heavenly  Father  feedeth  them.  Consider  the  lilies  of 
the  field,  how  they  grow;  they  toil  not,  neither  do  they  spin: 
and  yet  I  say  unto  you,  that  even  Solomon  in  all  his  glory 
was  not  arrayed  like  one  of  these.  .  .  .  Are  ye  not  much 
better  than  they?"^ 

1  Matt.  V,  14-15. 

2  Matt,  vi,  25-31. 


THE  POETRY  OF  JESUS  299 

Behold  him  again,  in  the  streets  of  Capernaum.  He  is 
passing  with  his  disciples.  There  is  a  sudden  brawl,  a  shout. 
A  band  of  youngsters  are  dashing  into  a  neighbouring  alley. 
Jesus  has  raised  his  eyes.  Through  a  half -open  doorway 
he  sees  in  the  obscurity  of  a  poor  room  the  father  standing, 
about  to  cut  a  loaf  of  bread.  Four  or  five  children's  heads 
and  as  many  pairs  of  eyes  are  turned  towards  the  coveted 
treasure,  and  hands  are  being  raised  in  a  beam  of  sunlight. 
It  is  only  a  flash,  this  vision,  a  momentary  glimpse,  but 
Jesus  has  seen  the  raised  hands  and  the  father's  smile. 
"Ask,"  he  says,  turning  towards  his  disciples,  "and  it  shall 
be  given  you.  What  man  is  there  of  you,  whom  if  his  son 
ask  bread,  will  he  give  him  a  stone?  If  ye  then,  being  evil, 
know  how  to  give  good  gifts  unto  your  children,  how  much 
more  shall  your  Father  which  is  in  heaven  give  good  things 
to  them  that  ask  him?"  ^ 

Jesus  has  observed  so  many  things.  He  has  known  the 
little  paths,  faintly  traced,  that  climb  the  slopes  of  the  hills 
to  the  wonderful  views;  has  known  their  charm  and  the 
emptiness  of  the  big  dusty  highways  that  lead  to  the  noisy, 
corrupt  cities.* 

He  has  felt  the  desolation  of  those  clusters  of  reeds  bent 
by  the  wind  in  the  solitudes:  "What  went  ye  out  into  the 
wilderness  to  see?    A  reed  shaken  with  the  wind?"  ^ 

What,  in  short,  has  he  not  contemplated  in  the  richness 
of  his  vision,  from  the  sower,  sweeping  his  arm  in  a  mag- 
nificent gesture  over  the  fields,*^  to  that  woman,  bending 
over  the  kneading-trough  and  hiding  her  leaven  in  the  three 
measures  of  meal,^  from  the  tares  that  mingle  their  roots 
with  those  of  the  wheat  ^  to  that  net  which  strong  arms 

3  Matt,  vii,  7-1 1. 

^  Ibid.,  13-14. 

5  Matt,  xi,  7. 

8  Matt,  xiii,  4 ;  Mark  iv,  3 ;  Luke  viii,  5. 

■^  Matt,  xiii,  2i2> ',  Luke  xiii,  21. 

8  Matt,  xiii,  25. 


300  APPENDIX 

draw  in  over  the  beach  to  sort  the  golden  and  silvery  fish.* 
He  has  seen  all  these  marvels  which  did  not  exist  until 
he  had  observed  them  and  told  us  of  them.  It  really  seems 
as  if  with  him  one  walked  in  a  world  as  fresh  as  the  world 
of  children.  This,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  he  knows  himself: 
"I  thank  thee,  O  Father,  because  thou  hast  hid  these  things 
from  the  wise  and  prudent,  and  hast  revealed  them  unto 
babes.  Even  so,  Father:  for  so  it  seemed  good  in  thy 
sight."  ^^  It  is  towards  the  "lost  sheep"  that  he  goes, 
towards  those  men  and  women  whose  souls  have  been  closed 
perhaps  to  the  poetry  of  things  and  sullied  for  a  time, 
but  who  have  sought  and  who  now  open  their  hearts  to  the 
realities  of  other  days,  who  have  found  again  the  eyes 
of  their  childhood  at  the  contact  of  his  own  soul  with 
theirs. 

This  poetry  of  Jesus  is  sober.  No  verbiage,  nothing  stere- 
otyped, no  insipid  sentimentality!  The  beauties  of  nature, 
the  forms  of  men,  the  face  of  reality,  he  takes  everything 
just  as  it  is;  it  is  almost  the  nudity  of  antique  sculpture. 
Nothing  but  light  clothes  these  bodies,  but  this  light  is 
everything.  Jesus  saw  the  universe  in  the  light  of  God. 
With  his  heart  full  of  the  Father,  he  projected  this  light 
of  God  over  the  spectacle  of  the  world,  and  the  world  was 
transfigured  by  it;  he  set  himself  to  sing  the  praises  of 
God  and  he  freely  uttered  all  the  truth  that  was  in  him. 

Simplicity,  sincerity:  here  lies  the  whole  secret  of  this 
lyricism,  the  fresh  spring  of  which  wells  up  in  the  soul  of 
Christ  as  if  in  the  morning  of  creation. 

But  the  youth  of  the  heart,  the  glow  of  our  first  ventures 
only  last  for  a  moment;  men  know  this  only  too  well,  so 

9  Matt,  xiii,  47. 

10  Matt,  xi,  25  and  26. 


THE  POETRY  OF  JESUS  301 

easily  do  they  allow  the  poetry  of  their  first  twenty  years 
to  be  extinguished  in  them.  After  that  fresh,  confident  en- 
thusiasm, they  fall  victims  to  the  dryness  and  avarice  cf 
the  heart  of  the  years  that  we  are  accustomed  to  call,  some- 
times mistakenly,  more  reasonable. 

Now,  life  was  severe  to  Jesus;  no  one  will  deny  that. 
If  any  one  has  ever  come  in  contact  with  the  hard  realities 
of  existence,  if  any  one  has  ever  known  the  bitterness  of 
deceptions  and  unfulfilled  dreams,  it  is  assuredly  he.  But 
the  obstacles  of  the  road  did  not  stifle  the  poetry  in  Jesus 
as  they  stifle  it  in  most  men;  they  only  caused  it  to  de- 
velop; and  perhaps  that  is  what  should  always  happen. 
Under  all  the  blows  of  existence,  through  sorrows  and  diffi- 
culties of  every  sort,  Jesus  never  lost  his  confidence  in 
life  and  in  Him  who  directs  life;  and  the  reward  of  this 
persevering  faith  in  the  face  of  everything  was  the  inex- 
haustible flow  of  poetry  that  never  permitted  his  soul  to 
dry  up  in  discouragement,  revolt,  or  disillusioned  scepticism. 
Where  many  people  believe  that,  at  a  certain  moment  in 
life,  it  is  suitable  and  expedient  to  surrender  the  confidence 
and  generosity  of  their  past  and  fling  themselves  desper- 
ately and  unreservedly  into  the  bitter  struggle,  Jesus  never 
cut  this  golden  thread  which  unites  the  experiences  of  the 
adult  to  those  of  the  child.  On  the  contrary,  every  time 
that  the  circumstances  of  life  disappointed  him  or  men  made 
him  weep  or  the  future  threatened  him,  he  returned  to  the 
experiences  of  the  past,  to  the  moral  realities  that  he  had 
formerly  lived  through,  and  to  the  infinite  poetry  that  re- 
joices the  heart  of  the  child,  and  sought  strength  in  them. 
He  did  not  abandon  himself  to  the  sterile  dream  which 
drags  one  back  or  paralyses  one.  He  charged  his  soul  with 
the  convictions  that  one  acquires  in  the  springtime  of  life, 
and  he  returned  to  the  troubling  realities  of  the  present 


302  APPENDIX 

with  a  force  in  himself  that  was  stronger  than  them  all: 
the  immutable  certainty  of  the  paternal  and  reassuring  pres- 
ence which  is  that  of  the  home  of  our  childhood  and  the 
memory  of  which  men  allow  themselves  to  lose. 

This  poetry — for  this  too  is  poetry — permeated  all  his 
activity  as  a  man  working  among  men;  and  that  is  why, 
when  one  has  learned  to  read  the  gospels  with  the  eyes 
of  the  Spirit,  the  face  of  Jesus  suggests  no  longer  the  gentle 
dreamer  evoked  by  Renan  but  rather  the  countenance  of 
an  epic  hero,  winning,  in  the  combats  of  life,  marvellous 
and  still  unsurpassed  victories. 

Let  us  try  to  surprise  in  his  soul  this  evolution  which, 
by  insensible  transitions,  led  him  from  the  poetry  of  nature 
to  that  of  man,  to  the  beauty  and  the  living  and  luminous 
earnestness  of  the  active  human  life.  There  is  no  question 
here  of  theories;  one  might  write  volumes  on  this  subject. 
What  I  should  like  to  show  is  a  spectacle:  the  spectacle 
of  a  life  which  develops  while  never  casting  off  the  royal 
mantle  of  poetry  with  which  God,  in  his  infinite  bounty, 
covers  every  human  cradle.  But  the  only  way  to  understand 
this  is  to  watch  Jesus  as  he  lives,  to  listen  while  he  speaks, 
and  to  allow  the  echo  of  his  words  to  prolong  its  mystery 
within  our  own  hearts. 

Behold  him  once  more  thenl  It  is  in  the  midst  of  his 
career,  or,  more  exactly,  just  after  the  first  sally,  the  first 
emergence  into  the  world  of  action  in  which  he  has  gen- 
erously bestowed  upon  the  people  and  the  crowds  that  fol- 
low him  the  whole  of  his  youth.  He  flings  it  all  to  them, 
in  armfuls,  in  thick,  clustered  sheaves:  his  affection,  his 
dreams,  his  confidence,  his  joy,  his  convictions,  the  poetry 
that  has  sung  in  his  soul  as  a  valiant  youth,  the  certitudes 
that  have  shone  from  his  great  open  eyes.  And  now  he 
has  returned  from  the  mountain  whither  so  many  ears  eager 
to  hear,  so  many  hearts  anxious  to  know,  have  accompanied 


THE  POETRY  OF  JESUS  303 

him.  He  is  in  a  synagogue,  mingling  with  the  multitude 
which  he  loves  and  pities.  There  is  a  stir;  they  push  be- 
fore him  a  man  with  a  withered  hand.  Jesus  suddenly 
understands.  To-day  is  the  sabbath.  All  these  eyes  that 
are  watching  him,  these  arm.s  impatient  to  drag  the  sick 
man  into  his  presence,  these  knowing  glances  that  pass  from 
one  to  another,  this  dull  murmur  followed  by  a  sudden 
silence — it  is  all  the  work  of  a  hypocrisy  that  is  spreading 
its  nets,  seeking  to  catch  him  in  a  snare,  and  this  amid 
the  joy  of  the  sabbath,  on  the  day  consecrated  to  God  when 
men  should  love  one  another.  Something  seems  to  rend 
in  the  pure  soul  of  Christ,  and  the  rent  grows  wider  and 
wider.  What  an  awakening!  A  moment  ago  there  was  a 
perfect  communion  in  the  joy  of  nature:  they  listened  to 
him,  they  loved  him,  they  greeted  him  with  hearts  full  of 
welcome.  Now  ice,  the  chill  of  falsehood,  the  torture  of 
the  heart  recoiling  before  that  fearful  thing,  deceit,  the 
desire  to  tempt,  incurable  spite. 

Others  would  have  felt  all  their  hope  sink  under  the 
shock.  But  Jesus  looks  into  the  past.  He  sees  filing  be- 
fore his  heart  as  a  child  the  scenes  of  other  days,  all  bathed 
in  the  peaceful  and  tranquillising  atmosphere  of  the  Father: 
the  flocks  dark  against  the  countryside,  the  shepherds  care- 
ful to  lose  none  of  their  sheep.  He  listens  to  the  life- 
bearing  truth  that  comes  to  him  with  these  memories  of 
the  serenity  of  nature.  Is  he  not  also  the  shepherd  of  the 
dark,  restive  sheep?  And  then,  with  his  heart  beating  less 
violently,  instead  of  replying  with  a  violent  gesture  to  the 
hatred  that  mutters  about  him,  he  takes  this  poetry  of  his 
childhood  which  he  has  found  again  in  the  depths  of  him- 
self, and  offers  it,  as  one  would  offer  a  bouquet,  to  those 
who  are  trying  to  destroy  him:  "How  much  then  is  a  man 
better  than  a  sheep!"  he  says  to  them.  He  leads  their 
thoughts  back  beneath  the  light  of  childhood  whose  eyes 


304  APPENDIX 

were  clear  and  could  see;  he  tries  to  make  them  behold 
this  man  with  the  eyes  they  had  as  children/^ 

How  many  times  has  he  attempted  to  do  this:  to  restore 
to  this  generation,  on  which  he  at  first  counted  so  much, 
the  clear  vision  of  the  divine  beauty!  And  how  many  times 
has  this  generation  wounded  his  heart  by  refusing  to  see 
anything  in  it!  Here  again  we  may  say  that,  in  a  certain 
sense,  it  was  poetry  that  saved  Jesus  from  discouragement; 
not  an  artificial  poetry  that  distracts  one  from  life,  but  the 
poetry  of  the  Father's  work,  the  angle  of  beauty  from  which 
he  perceives  this  great  drama  of  the  struggle  that  unites 
all  the  generations  and  leads  them  step  by  step  to  judg- 
ment. Let  us  recall,  for  example,  how  he  sees  the  Ninevites 
rising  from  their  tombs  to  accuse  the  unbelievers  of  his 
time,  and  the  Queen  of  Sheba,  the  black  queen,  who  also 
comes  to  affirm  that  there  is  one  here  greater  than  Solomon 
whose  wisdom  and  glory  she  had  yet  come  from  the  utter- 
most parts  of  the  earth  to  see.^^ 

But  these  unbelievers,  these  men  who  will  have  none  of 
him,  Jesus  loves  nevertheless.  He  takes  them  by  the  hand 
and  leads  them  with  him  back  to  his  own  memories  of 
childhood.  This  poetry  of  the  past  will  speak  to  their 
hearts  as  it  speaks  to  his  own.  Are  they  not  like  those 
children  playing  in  the  market-place?  Some  pretend  to  be 
drawing  sounds  from  an  imaginary  flute  which  they  hold 
between  their  agile  fingers;  the  others  show  they  have  un- 
derstood the  gesture  by  beginning  to  dance.  The  first  group 
plays  a  funeral  dirge;  the  others  catch  the  idea  that  a 
burial  is  taking  place  and  imitate  the  tears  and  lamenta- 
tions. "And  you,"  Jesus  virtually  says  to  them,  "you  make 
it  a  point  not  to  understand  the  game  of  life  and  close  your 
ears  to  all  the  invitations  that  are  offered  you!"    What  tact 

"Matt,  xii,  9-13;  Mark  iii,  1-6;  Luke  vi,  6-11. 
12  Matt,   xii,  38-42 ;  Luke  xi,  29-32. 


THE  POETRY  OF  JESUS  305 

and  what  touching  charm  in  this  poetry  of  childhood  that 
throws  its  soft  veil  over  the  sad  and  cruel  reality  and  appeals 
to  the  feelings  without  wounding  these  sinners  to  the  quick." 

This  unspeakable  love  which  he  feels  for  them,  this 
agonising  desire  to  save  them,  Jesus  manifests  on  another 
day  when  he  makes  them  the  most  beautiful  gift  that  a 
man  can  make.  He  gives  them  all  the  hidden  poetry  of 
the  home.  Stretching  forth  his  hand  towards  his  disciples, 
he  exclaims,  "Who  is  my  mother  and  who  are  my  brethren? 
Behold  my  mother  and  my  brethren!"  ^*  We  must  be  care- 
ful not  to  see  in  this  any  sort  of  easy  denial  of  his  family 
and  maternal  affection.  On  the  contrary,  by  installing  them 
as  it  were  in  the  family  of  his  soul,  he  gave  them  all  the 
joy  of  his  childhood,  all  the  affection  that  had  illumined 
his  early  years,  all  that  a  man  expresses  when,  in  the  midst 
of  suffering,  he  allows  to  escape  from  his  almost  uncon- 
scious lips  the  simple  word  "mother." 

The  tact  that  Jesus  shows  in  the  appeal,  this  intimate 
poetry  that  colours  his  whole  life  we  find  even  in  his  silences, 
for  there  is  a  poetry  of  silence  and  the  grandest  spectacles 
render  the  deepest  souls  wordless.  What  a  magnificent 
sermon  lies  in  the  simplicity  of  his  attitude  before  the  woman 
taken  in  adultery  whom  they  bring  before  him  to  be  judged! 
Jesus,  stooping  down,  began  to  write  on  the  ground  with 
his  finger.  The  woman  stood  there  before  him,  filled  with 
mortal  anguish.  Time  was  running  from  the  hour-glass  of 
eternity.  .  .  .  Then,  one  by  one,  the  accusers,  embarrassed, 
stole  away.  "He  that  is  without  sin  among  you,  let  him 
first  cast  a  stone  at  her."  These  words  burned  their  hearts. 
Jesus  continued  to  write  on  the  ground.  At  last,  raising 
his  head,  he  saw  that  he  was  alone  with  the  woman. 
"Neither  do  I  condemn  thee,"  he  said  to  her.    Would  it  be 


^3  Matt,  xi,  16-19;  Luke  31-35. 
14  Matt,  xii,  46-50. 


3o6  APPENDIX 

possible  to  clothe  with  more  poetic  grace  a  judgment  that 
stirred  the  basest  mire,  whether  in  the  accused  or  the  ac- 
cusers? ^^ 

For  the  rest,  on  every  occasion  when  Jesus  encounters  a 
woman,  a  little  poem  slips  into  the  gospels.  We  recall 
Bethany  and  Martha  and  Mary,"  Jacob's  well,  and  the 
woman  of  Samaria,^'^  the  scene  in  which  the  unknown  woman 
pours  the  ointment  on  his  head  and  that  phrase  which  is 
so  natural  and  so  great:  "Why  trouble  ye  her?"  ^^  Finally, 
the  last  word  of  Christ  to  his  mother  as  he  points  out  to 
her  the  beloved  disciple:  "Behold  thy  son."  ^^ 

The  intense  activity  of  Jesus,  amid  strife  and  suffering 
of  all  kinds,  that  colossal  work  of  appeal  and  conversion 
which  he  carried  on  for  two  or  three  years  among  the  men 
and  women  of  Palestine,  was  not  tarnished  for  an  instant 
with  the  prosaic  dryness  and  the  sterile  harshness  that  so 
often  sully  the  activity  of  Christians,  and  sometimes  all  the 
more  as  it  increases  in  devotion.  It  makes  us  ask  ourselves 
whence  comes,  in  those  who  usually  undertake  good  works, 
that  lack  of  charm  in  the  doing  of  them.  Assuredly  it  is 
not  from  Jesus  they  have  inherited  it.  He  himself  scattered 
poetry  over  men  and  through  all  his  work. 

Now  this  new  poetry  which  he  brought  to  the  world 
was  little  by  little  reflected  in  his  person.  It  could  not 
have  been  otherwise.  An  event  that  bears  witness  to  this 
in  the  gospels,  an  event  before  which  we  have  often  paused 
without  understanding  it  and  of  which  at  least  a  part  of  the 
mystery  lies  in  the  poetry  of  Christ,  is  the  Transfiguration.^" 
On  the  mountain  whither  three  disciples  had  followed  him, 
he  was  suddenly  illumined,  permeated,  impregnated  with 

15  John  viii,  i-il, 

16  Luke  X,  38-42. 

17  John  iv,  1-42. 

18  Mark  xiv,  3-9. 

19  John  xix,  25-27. 

20  Matt,  xvii,  1-8;  Mark  ix,  2-8;  Luke  ix,  28-36. 


THE  POETRY  OF  JESUS  307 

the  light  with  which  he  had  spent  his  life  in  flooding  men 
and  things.  He  had  always  desired  to  see  them  through 
what  might  be  called  the  poetry  of  God,  in  the  glory  for 
which  God  had  created  them.  He  had  projected  upon  them 
all  that  God  had  given  him  of  holiness,  beauty,  truth,  jus- 
tice, the  ideal.  He  had,  so  to  speak,  stripped  himself  of 
all  this  glory  to  make  it  shine  over  others.  Now  that 
the  work  is  under  way,  it  is  necessary  that  for  once  at  least 
his  companions  should  see  him  as  he  is  in  the  eyes  of 
God,  that  they  should  contemplate  him  irradiated  and  glori- 
fied in  the  very  poetry  of  heaven. 

The  Transfiguration  is  the  sudden  revelation  to  common 
eyes  of  all  the  divine  poetry  that  was  in  Jesus  Christ.  They 
saw  him  and  then  they  fell  silent,  realising  that  there  was 
something  here  which  could  not  be  uttered.  But  hence- 
forth they  followed  him  more  faithfully.  A  little  of  the 
dazzling  glory  which  he  had  had  on  the  mountain  clung 
from  this  time  forward  to  their  Master.  They  looked  upon 
him  differently  because  the  divine  splendour  had  trans- 
figured him  in  their  eyes.  Having  believed  in  the  magnifi- 
cence of  the  universe  created  by  his  Father  and  in  the 
moral  beauty  of  man,  in  spite  of  all  the  disappointments 
that  nature  and  man  had  flung  in  his  face,  Jesus  appeared 
to  his  own  clad  in  a  dignity  and  a  grandeur  that  no  one 
will  ever  surpass. 

But  tragic  hours  were  approaching.  Now,  in  every  tragic 
hour  there  is  an  element  of  terror  and  horror  that  unmans 
the  noblest  natures  and  may  destroy  them  at  a  blow.  One 
only  escapes  from  the  sinister  clutch  of  tragic  reality,  from 
the  discouragement,  the  stupor  it  calls  out,  by  depriving 
it  of  its  power  to  kill  us  or  enfeeble  us.  It  is  only  the  poets 
who  know  how  to  make  of  the  tragedy  of  life  an  ally  in- 
stead of  an  adversary.    They  alone  snatch  from  the  tragic 


3o8  APPENDIX 

horror  of  facts  its  impassable,  its  fatal  mask  and  perceive 
behind  this  fatality  a  face :  the  face  of  the  august  and  solemn 
Truth  which  attracts  them  by  the  passionate  interest  it 
arouses. 

It  was  in  this  way  that  the  end,  desperate  in  so  many 
respects,  became  for  Jesus  a  triumph  and  an  ascension. 
But  this  divine  metamorphosis  of  life  was  not  the  work  of 
a  day.  It  came  about  slowly  and,  under  the  influence  of 
events,  led  him  from  the  poetry  of  nature  and  childhood 
to  that  of  the  heroic  life  and  the  joy  that  endures  even 
unto  death. 

The  parable  of  the  vineyard  "  initiates  us  into  this  last 
period  of  his  life  and  this  stage  of  his  poetic  feeling.  One 
feels  that  he  is  pervaded  there  by  a  sorrowful  certainty, 
the  result  of  long  reflection  and  a  very  clear  view  of  the 
ways  in  which  the  Jewish  aspirations  are  opposed  to  his 
personal  faith  and  irreconcilable  with  it.  Jesus  knows  that 
he  will  be  rejected.  The  son  of  the  owner  of  the  vineyard 
will  be  killed  and  cast  forth  from  the  vineyard,  even  as  the 
servants  have  been  who  preceded  him,  the  prophets  and 
John  the  Baptist,  the  latest  of  them.  Henceforth  he  must 
advance  with  the  certainty  of  final  failure;  and  we  can 
imagine  the  shadows  that  must  have  spread  over  the  soul 
of  Jesus  as  he  came  to  believe  this,  to  know  it,  to  be  so 
sure  of  it  that  he  could  speak  of  it  publicly. 

Indeed  he  cherished  no  illusions;  he  saw,  better  than 
any  one,  the  mob  of  the  perverse,  the  lazy,  the  evil,  the 
indifferent,  in  the  midst  of  whom  he  must  continue  to  bear 
aloft  the  shining  torch.  The  parables  of  the  talents  and 
the  virgins  are  evidence  of  this.^^  Sometimes  these  evil 
folk  appear  to  him  in  the  proportion  of  one  in  three  (among 
the  three  servants  there  is  one  who  hides  his  talent  in  the , 

21  Matt,  xxi,  33-46;  Mark  xii,  1-12;  Luke  xx,  9-19. 

22  Matt.  XXV,  14-30;  Luke  xix,  11-28;  and  Matt,  xxv,  1-13. 


THE  POETRY  OF  JESUS  309 

earth),  sometimes  they  seem  to  him  as  numerous  as  the 
good  (there  are  five  foolish  virgins  to  five  who  are  wise; 
and  for  that  matter,  they  all  fall  asleep  without  excep- 
tion, the  wise  and  the  foolish;  not  one  is  able  to  keep 
watch). 

Thus  one  feels  the  circle  of  iron  closing  in.  Jesus  sees 
the  void  that  is  forming  about  him.  The  treacherous  spider 
of  human  hypocrisy  is  spinning  its  web  about  his  person. 
The  tragedy  is  gathering  head  in  the  darkness.  He  feels 
it  approaching  in  the  very  person  of  Judas,  who  is  becoming 
sullen,  in  the  withdrawal  of  the  deluded  multitudes.  And 
what  suffers  first  of  all  in  him  is  his  lovingly  patriotic 
heart.  He  wishes,  before  the  end,  at  least  to  enter  his 
well-loved  city  in  triumph;  he  wishes  to  taste,  if  only  for 
an  instant,  that  poetry  of  joy  of  which  he  has  dreamed; 
and,  seated  on  the  royal  mount,  he  solemnly  passes  through 
the  walls  of  Jerusalem,  uplifted  once  more  by  that  popular 
enthusiasm  of  which  he  well  knows  that  this  is  the  last 
outburst.  But  he  also  knows  that  "if  these  should  hold 
their  peace,  the  stones  would  immediately  cry  out."  -^ 

Just  after  this  royal  progress  of  Palm  Sunday,  we  ob- 
serve the  emotional  reaction  that  seizes  upon  him  to  the 
very  depths  of  his  soul.  He  looks  upon  the  ramparts  of 
his  city,  the  holy  city  of  God,  and  upon  the  Temple  yonder 
shining  under  the  rays  of  the  sun;  and  from  his  trembling 
lips  falls  that  tragic  poem  which  is  so  touching,  so  heart- 
rending: "O  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem,  how  often  would  I  have 
gathered  thy  children  together,  even  as  a  hen  gathereth 
her  chickens  under  her  wings,  and  ye  would  not!  Behold, 
your  house  is  left  unto  you  desolate."  "*  Still  later,  before 
the  walls  of  the  Temple,  the  solidity  of  which  the  disciples 
have  just  been  observing,  he  will  exclaim:  ''Verily,  I  say 

23  Matt,  xxi,  i-ii;  Mark  xi,  i-io;  Luke  xix,  28-44;  John  xii,  12-19. 
2*  Matt,  xxiii,  2>7  '>  Luke  xiii,  34. 


3IO  APPENDIX 

unto  you,  There  shall  not  be  left  here  one  stone  upon 
another,  that  shall  not  be  thrown  down."  ^^ 

Sorrow,  we  might  suppose,  a  clear  vision  of  what  is  com- 
ing, a  prophetic  glimpse  that  can  leave  in  this  betrayed 
heart  and  this  weary  soul  nothing  but  the  sense  of  bitter 
deception  and  cruel  doubt. 

So  it  would  seem  to  human  eyes  .  .  .  and  yet,  is  that 
what  we  find  in  the  sweetness  of  the  last  conversations 
(John  xiv-xvii),  in  the  calm  with  which  they  make  ready 
for  the  Supper  on  the  eve  of  Good  Friday,  in  the  serene 
and  joyous  authority  that  presides  over  the  resurrection  of 
Lazarus?  No,  Jesus  was  not  discouraged  by  the  apparent 
defeat  of  his  work;  for  when  one  has  toiled  always  hand 
in  hand  with  the  Father,  it  is  impossible  that  one  should 
be  deceived.  The  life  which  he  lives  inwardly  is  truer 
and  stronger  than  all  the  lies  that  are  opposed  to  it  by  a 
concrete  and,  after  all,  transitory  reality.  It  is  onlj^  neces- 
sary to  turn  upon  the  disturbing  facts  of  earth  the  shining 
rays  of  that  life,  that  intimate  communion  which  he  has 
with  the  Father.  Then  everything  appears  in  its  true  light, 
the  dismay  vanishes  and  the  song  of  life  asserts  itself  anew. 

Death,  his  death  which  is  there,  which  is  in  preparation 
in  the  shadow,  which  is  to  come,  insidiously  and  perversely, 
and  surprise  him  in  the  midst  of  his  activity,  in  the  midst 
of  his  youth,  must  be,  since  the  Father  allows  it  to  come, 
a  means  of  realising  the  plans  of  the  Father.  Then  Jesus, 
in  order  to  understand  the  tragedy  which  awaits  him  along 
his  path,  rereads  the  ancient  tragedy,  the  poem  announcing 
the  Man  of  Sorrow."'^  He  sees  filing  past  him,  in  a  mag- 
nificent sequence,  all  those  who  have  given  their  lives.  His 
own  shall  be  the  crowning  of  them. 

For  the  rest,  must  he  call  this  death  which  awaits  him  a 

25  Matt,  xxiv,  2;  Mark  xiii,  2;  Luke  xix,  44  and  xxi,  6, 

26  Isaiah  liii. 


THE  POETRY  OF  JESUS  311 

defeat  and  an  end?  No,  it  is  a  beginning,  it  is  a  triumph, 
it  is  a  joy.  Above  the  sorrow,  infinite  joy  soars  like  an 
eagle.  He  will  be  the  stalk  to  which  all  the  shoots  attach 
themselves  that  they  may  live;  he  will  be  the  vine  that  is 
full  of  sap  and  that  will  henceforth  bear  up  to  the  light 
of  God  the  leaves  and  the  fruit,  the  clusters  and  the 
branches.  It  is  from  his  life  that  all  life  will  spring,  and 
his  sacrifice  will  give  birth  to  the  miracles  of  which  men 
have  need  in  order  to  live." 

He  will  be  the  bread  and  the  wine  with  which  they  shall 
nourish  themselves.  He  will  flood  them,  every  one,  with 
the  effluvium  of  life  and  joy  that  floods  him  because  he 
has  been  made  one  with  God.  Little  by  little,  the  last  great 
revelation  dawns  upon  his  agonised  consciousness.  It  is 
like  a  song  that  fills  him  entirely,  like  music  that  penetrates 
him,  a  poem  that  sweeps  him  away  on  its  large,  abundant 
rhythm.  And  strong  with  the  strength  of  this  supreme 
and  tragic  poetry  that  he  has  found  in  God,  he  advances, 
calm,  peaceful,  almost  joyous,  towards  the  Cross. 

One  should  reread  the  last  discourses  which  the  gospel 
of  John  alone  has  preserved  for  us.  It  is  to  them  that  we 
turn  instinctively  when  we  have  need  of  consolation,  when 
life  has  wounded  or  troubled  us.  They  receive  us  like 
maternal  arms  and  their  very  cadence  is  like  that  of  some 
ancient  cradle.  Can  one  doubt  that  these  things  were  said 
at  the  distance  of  a  few  steps  from  the  cross?  Scarcely  a 
veil  concealed  it  now,  and  for  him  who  spoke  it  was  already 
there.  The  tone  of  these  utterances  is  grave,  but  what 
charm  they  have,  what  peace,  what  sweetness! 

Contemplating  Jesus  at  this  moment,  people  have  spoken 

of  his  "acceptance."    Acceptance,  yes,  truly,  but  not  in  the 

sense  of  a  resigned,  dejected,  passive  submission.     There 

is  something  more  than  acceptance  here;   there  is  a  sort 

27  John  XV,  1-8. 


312  APPENDIX 

of  grave  and  joyous  accord  with  the  very  essence  of  life 
and  destiny,  a  poetry  that  is  at  once  candid,  childlike,  and 
conscious,  a  heroic  poetry  that  uplifts  you  and  bears  you 
over  the  ocean  of  Eternity.  In  fact,  this  man  who  is  to  be 
crucified  to-morrow  speaks  above  all  of  joy:  "Ye  shall  be 
sorrowful,  but  your  sorrow  shall  be  turned  into  joy.  .  .  . 
Ask,  and  ye  shall  receive,  that  your  joy  may  be  full.  .  .  . 
If  ye  loved  me,  ye  would  rejoice,  because  I  said,  I  go  unto 
the  Father."  It  is  the  joy  of  fulfilment,  that  which  a 
woman  feels  when,  through  her,  another  man  is  born  into 
the  world.  Jesus  had  attained,  in  this  moment,  to  so  power- 
ful a  realisation  of  the  invisible  things,  to  what  one  might 
call  so  complete  an  incarnation  of  the  poetry  of  God,  that 
the  joy  of  the  eternal  truth  effaces  the  shadows  of  suffering 
and  drowns  them  in  its  light. 

Still  to  come  is  the  cry  of  Gethsemane,  still  the  few  brief, 
simple  words  from  the  cross.  But  above  all  the  silence 
.  .  .  the  silence  of  this  great  figure  that  passes  from  the 
palace  of  Caiaphas  and  that  of  Herod,  from  the  pretorium 
of  Pontius  Pilate  and  the  court  of  the  soldiers  .  .  .  saying 
nothing,  his  eyes  fixed  upon  the  sovereign  realities  of  the 
Beyond  towards  which  he  leads  humanity. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 
OF  THE  LIVES  OF  JESUS 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 
OF  THE  LIVES  OF  JESUS 

N.  B. — It  seems  to  us  useful  to  give  here  most  of  the  lives  of 
Jesus  that  have  appeared  since  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury. They  are  arranged  as  far  as  possible  according  to  the  date  of 
their  first  editions.  But  in  order  to  avoid  the  constant  repetition  of 
the  name  of  the  same  author,  we  have  grouped  under  the  name  of 
each,  where  it  appears  for  the  first  time,  all  those  of  his  works  that 
should  be  mentioned.  To  lives  of  Jesus  proper  we  have  added 
studies  that  belong  more  or  less  in  this  category,  without  always  bear- 
ing the  title. 

Venturini,  K.  H. — Naturliche  Geschichte  des  grossen  Prophet  en  von 

Nazareth,   1800-1802. 
Opitz,  E.  a. — Geschichte  und  Charaktersiige  Jesu.    Jena  and  Leipzig, 

1812,  pp.  488. 
Greiling. — Das  Leben  Jesu  von  Nazareth.     Etn  religioses  Handbuch 

fiir  Geist  und  Hers  der  Freunde  Jesu  unter  den  Gebildeten.    Halle, 

1813. 
Jakobi,  J.  A. — Die  Geschichte  Jesu  fiir  denkende  und  gemiltvolle  Leser. 

1816. 
Paulus,  H.  E.  G. — Das  Leben  Jesu  als  Grundlage  einer  reinen  Ge- 
schichte des  Urchristentums.     Heidelberg.  1828,  2  vol.,  pp.  1192. 
Hase,    K.    a. — Das   Leben   Jesu   sundchst   fiir   akademische   Studien. 

1829,  pp.  205. 
Langsdorf,   K.    (von). — Wohlgepriifte   Darsiellung   des  Lebens   Jesu. 

Mannheim,   1831. 
Strauss,  D.  ¥.— Leben  Jesu.    2  vol.,  1835-1836,  pp.  1480.     3rd  edition 

(point  of  view  changed),  1838-39;  4th  edition  (return  to  point  of 

view  of  the  first),  1840. 
Id. — Das  Leben  Jesu  fiir  das  dcutsche  Volk  bearbeitet.     Leipzig,  1864, 

pp.  631. 
Id. — Der  Christus  der  Glaube  und   der  Jesus  der  Geschichte.     Eme 

Kritik  des  Schleiermacherschen  Lebens  Jesu.    Berlin,  1865,  PP-  223. 
Neander,  a.  W.—Das  Leben  Jesu  Christi.     Hamburg,  1837. 
Hartmann,  J. — Leben  Jesu.     2  vol.,  1837-39. 
Hennell. — Untcrsuchitngen    i'lber    den    Ursprung    des    Christentums. 

1840;   English  edition,   1838. 
Salvator. — Jesus-Christ  et  sa  doctrine.     Paris,  2  vol.,  1838. 
Ammon,   C.   F.    (von). — Die   Geschichte   des  Lebens   Jesu   mit  steter 

Riicksicht  auf  die  vorhandenen  Quellen.    3  vol.,  1842-47. 
Sepp,  J.   N. — Das   Leben  Jesu   Christi.    Regensburg,    1843-46. 
Bauer,  Bruno. — Kritik  der  Evangelien.     Berlin,  2  vol.,  1850-51. 
Id. — Philo,  Strauss,  Renan  und  das  Urchristentum.     Berlin,  1874. 
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dein  romischen  Griechentum.     Berlin,   1877,  pp.  387. 
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of  the  Geschichte  des  Volkes  Israel. 
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31S 


3i6     BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  THE  LIVES  OF  JESUS 

Pressel,  Th. — Leben  Jesu  Christi.    Tubingen,  1857,  pp.  592. 
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1858-1860.     (A.  K.  Emmerich  was  a  visionary;  it  was  Cl.  Brentano 

who  began  the  editing  of  her  work.)     French  version :  Vie  de  notre 

Seigneur   Jesus-Christ,    ecrite   par    Clement   Brentano    d'apres   les 

visions  d'  Anne-Cath.  Emmerich,  by  the  Abbe  de  Cazales.     Bray, 

1860-62,  6  vol. 
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Christ  en  vue  de  la  conciliation  des  Eglises  chritiennes.     2  vol., 

1858. 
Renan,  Ernest. — La  vie  de  Jesus.     Paris,  Michel  Levy,  1863,  pp.  462. 
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an  die  Gebildeten  der  deutschcn  Nation.     1863. 
ScHLEiERMACHER,    Fr.    E.    D. — Das    Leben    Jesu.      1864    (edited    by 

Riithenik  from  the  notes  of  the  course  given  in  1832). 
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Ihre    Quellen   und    den   Gang   Ihrer   Entwicklung.     Gotha,    1864, 

pp.  580. 
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Strasbourg,  1864,  pp.  255. 
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pp.  509- 
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Meyrueis,  1864,  pp.  636. 
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1865,  pp.  684. 
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preface  by  Sir  Oliver  Lodge. 
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KiEFL,  F.  X. — Der  geschichtliche  Christus  und  die  moderne  Philosophie, 

Mainz,   191 1,  pp.  222. 
Bacon,  B.  W. — Jesus  the  Son  of  God;  or  Primitive  Christology.    Lon- 
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Jeremias,  Alf. — Hat  Jesus  Christus  gelebt?    Leipzig,  1911,  pp.  64. 
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Jesu  (lecture).    Tubingen,  1912,  pp.  52. 
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1912,  pp.  353-  ,  .  - 
Lelievre,  p. — La  religion  de  Jesus  d'apres  I  evangile.    1912,  pp.  280. 
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Mackintosh,  H.   R.—The  Doctrine  of  the  Person  of  Jesus  Christ. 

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Heitmuller,  W. — Jestis.     Tiibingen,  Mohr,  1913,  pp.  184. 
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Kaehler,  M. — Der  sogenanntc  historische  Jesus.    Leipzig,  1913,  pp.  206. 
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Menegoz,  Eug. — Notre  seul  Mattre.     Paris,  Fischbacher,  1914,  pp.  61. 
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section,  2nd  part)  Manual  of  gospel  history  published  by  the  Union 
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INDEX 


Abnormal,  174 

Adolescence,  49-50,  149 

Adultery,  305 

Affirmations,  181 

Ambivalence,  210,  211,  248 

Andrea  del  Sarto,  211 

Angels,  170,  171,  178 

Animals  in  legends,  113,  118 

Annunciation,  100,  loi 

Apocalytic  eschatology,  136 

Apocalytic  messianism,  196 

Apparitions,  282 

Archelaus,  95 

Ascension  of  Jesus  Christ,  59,  273 ; 

of  the  soul,  57 
Ashur-bani-pal,  79 
Assumption  of  the  Virgin,  59 
Astral  theory  of  myths,  107 
Attis,  cult  of,  44,  55,  263,  288 
Austerity,  269 
Autism,  267 

Babylonians,  107 

Bahrdt,  K.  R,  137,  140 

Baptism,  57;  of  Jesus,  153 

Barabbas,  82 

Baskets,  48,  118 

Bastian,  Adolf,  106 

Bauer,  Bruno,  76;  on  the  Tempta- 
tion, 162 

Beauty,  304 

Belief,  5,  292,  293 

Bergson,  Henri,  243 

Bethany,  273 

Bethlehem,  95 ;  as  birthplace  of 
Jesus,  97 

Beyond,  223,  245 

Biblical  criticism,  27 

Bibliography  of  the  lives  of  Jesus, 
313 

Bipolarity,  211 

Birth  of  Jesus,  95 ;  circumstances, 
99;  date,  95;  place,  97;  psycho- 
logical truth  of  the  legend,  125 ; 
two  methods  of  psycho-analytical 
interpretation,  123,  125 

Bleuler,  Eugen,  211,  212 

Bouriant,  Urbain,  271 


Bousset,  W.,  239,  240 

Bread,  changing  stones  into,  171 ; 

stones  for,  299 
Bread  of  life,  179,  218 
Bridegroom,  51 

Brother  and  sister  marriage,  48 
Brothers,  53 
Buddhism,  185 

Caesarea  Philippi,  229,  239,  256 

Cana,  miracle  at,  78,  225,  226 

Capernaum,  180,  299 

Caravans,  145 

Carnal  tendencies,  42,  64 

Catechism,  142 

Catherine,  Saint,  51,  158 

Catholic  saints,  269 

Catholicism,  Roman,  45 

Censor,  18,  20,  108 

Census,  Roman,  95 

Ceremony,  Sacred,  39 

Childhood,  no,  112;  duality  and 
unity,  150;  drama  of,  109;  ex- 
posed child  in  legends,  112,  118, 
124 ;  feelings  toward  father,  247 ; 
of  Jesus,  130 

Christian  community  in  which  the 
gospels  were  born,  90 

Christianity,  deforming  elements 
of,  after  Jesus'  time,  63 ;  essence 
and  substance,  281 ;  Jesus'  rela- 
tion to,  62,  64;  legends  and 
myths  as  contributors  to,  83 ;  ma- 
terial view  of  the  Resurrection, 
292 ;  morbid,  291 ;  Mystery-Re- 
ligions and,  27 ;  Mystery-Reli- 
gions and  parallelism  of  pro- 
dromes, 33 ;  Protestant  versus 
Roman  Catholic,  269;  psycho- 
analysis and,  23 ;  symbolism  and 
its  relation  to  that  of  the  Mys- 
teries, 38 

Christians,  as  brothers,  53 ;  ortho- 
dox versus  real,  292,  293 

Christmas,  100;  poetry,  104 

Church,  central  fact  of  spiritual 
life,  281 ;  transposition  of  the 
spiritual  into  the  physical,  285 


325 


326 


INDEX 


Cicero,  31 

Clergy  as  fathers,  52 

Coe,  George,  on  the  psychology  of 
religion,  10,  12;  on  structural 
and   functional   points   of   view, 

^^'  ^5  .      . 
Communication  with  the  Beyond, 

■22.Z,  24s 
Communion,    44,     236;    see    also 

Lord's  Supper 
Complex,  19,  26 
Compromise,   177 
Consecration,  236 
Consolation,  311 
Conversion,  22;   56;  age  of,   143; 

psychological  explanation,  147 
Convictions,  22 
Creed,  10 
Criticism,  gi 
Critics,  88 

Cross,  poetry  of,  311 
Cures,  201,  203,  206 
Cybele,  44,  48,  52,  55,  288 
Cyrus,  legend  of,  115 

Daniel,  242;  book  of,  134,  135 

Dante's  Hell,  58 

David,  102;  city  of,  77,  97;  son 
of,  240 

Dead,  raising  the,  219,  221 

Death,  220,  224;  dream-death  ver- 
sus the  death  of  Jesus,  265-266; 
life  through,  261,  264;  thought 
and  reality  of,  260 

Death  of  Jesus,  256;  grandeur, 
261 ;  Jesus'  understanding  of, 
259;  joy  of,  311;  predictions  of 
Jesus,  232;  psychological  mean- 
ing, 267 

Decadence,  Hebrew,  34 

Delacroix,  Henri,  on  mysticism,  li 

Dementia  praecox,  168-169 

Demoniacs,  207,  208 

Desert,  161,  163 

Desires,  repression  of,  18 

Devil.    See  Satan 

Devils,  casting  out,  203,  206 

Dieterich,  Albrecht,  47,  48,  51 

Dionysus,   78,   288 

Disciples,   184,  197 

Disease,    19 

Doctrine,   8;    see   Dogma 

Documents,  on  the  life  of  Jesus, 
65 ;  validity  of  early,  27 

Dogma,  5,  8 


Double  nature  of  man,  170,  177 

Dove,   156;   symbolism,    158 

Drama   of    childhood,    109 

Dream  of   peoples,    108 

Dreams,  45,  61,  63,  iii,  174,  265, 
269;  Freud's  study  of,  19; 
myths  and,  108 ;  teleological 
point  of  view,  119;  two  meth- 
ods of  interpreting,  with  exam- 
ple, 120,  122 

Drews,   Arthur,  66,  81 

Duplicity,   150 

Dupuis,  C.  F.,  75 

Durckheim,  E.,  11 

Duties,  positive  versus  negative, 
181 

Earth    Mother,   52 

Edification,  works  of,  66,  83-84,  91 

Education,    131,   249 

Egyptian  Book  of  the  Dead,  58 

£lan  vital,  20,  24,  243 

Electra-complex,   11 1 

Elementary  ideas,   106 

Eleusinian   Mysteries,  48,  57 

Elias,  233,  234 

Elijah,  205 

Emmaus,  273 

Empedocles,  31 

Enoch,  book  of,  134,  135 

Epic,  296 

Epoptic,  57 

Eschatology,   Judaic,   196 

Essenes,  137 

Essenism,  141 

Eucharist,  45 

Evangelists,  67 

Evolution  of  religion,  37 

Extraverts,  166 

Ezekiel,  242 

Faith,  294 

Family,  305 

Family-complex,  40,  43,  46,  49,  52, 
54;  birth  of  Jesus  and,  125; 
meaning,  no;  myths  and,  109; 
symbolic  expression,    113,   119 

Fanaticism,  174 

Father,  child's  hatred  of,  no; 
child's  relation  to,  247 ;  Jesus' 
relation  to,  223,  243 ;  Kngdom 
and,  191 ;  personal  experience 
of  God  the  Father,  192 ;  return  to 
the  true  Father,  129;  unity  with, 
244;  see  also  Paternal  imago 


INDEX 


327 


Father's   business,    14S-146 

Fathers,  clergy  as,  52 

Fatum,  24,  259 

Feast,   sacred,   44,    57 

Feeling  and  thought,   166 

Fig-tree,  225 

Fishers  of  men,  297 

Fishes  and  loaves,  216 

Flight  into  Egypt,   124 

Flournoy,  Th.,  on  Freud's  ideas, 
in;  on  Jesus'  idea  of  the  Fa- 
ther, 245,  246 

Following  Jesus,  268 

Fowls  of  the  air,  298 

Francis  of  Assisi,  Saint,  231 

Frazer's  "Golden  Bough,"  81 

Freemasonry,  264 

Frenssen,  Gustav,  132 

Freud,  Sigmund,  16;  disciples  of, 
22 ;  modifications  of  his  ideas 
by  Flournoy,  iii;  on  the  fam- 
ily-complex,   109,    no 

Freudian  works,  23,  24 

Frommel,  Gaston,  6,  7,  243 

Fulfilment,   181,  312 


Gadarene,  healing  of,  208 

Galilee,    180;    nature   in,    133 

Gehenna,    194 

Genealogies  of  Jesus,  102 

Gentleness,  185 

Gethsemane,  84,  253,  258,  312 

Gilgamesch,  Epic  of,  79 

Gnosticism,  31,   59 

God,  as  father,  53;  of  Mysteries, 
35;  Kingdom  of,  190;  physical 
union  with,  46;  symbolism  to 
express,  39;  talking  with,  231; 
true,  243,  244;  union  with,  sym- 
bolized by  marriage,  50;  union 
with,  symbolized  by  paternity 
and  sonship,  51 

Godparent,  54 

Gods,  material  union  of  man  and, 
43 ;  nature,  conception  of,  42 ; 
sexual  union  concept,  46;  union 
with,  conception  of,  42 

Good,  one  who  is,  84 

Good  Friday,  310 

Gospels,  character,  66;  documen- 
tary value,  87;  historical  fea- 
tures, 85;  as  products  of  faith, 
83 ;  sources,  68 ;  value,  91 

Great  Mother,  44,  48,  53 


Greco-Roman    paganism,    27,    29; 

Hebrew  prophecy  and,  61 
Guisan,  Rene,  on  results  of  study 

of  the  synoptics,  70 

Hall,   G.   Stanley,  7 

Haman,  82 

Happiness,  182 

Harmonies  of  the  universe,  295 

Hate,  no,  207;  for  father,  no, 
247 ;  spiritual,  252 ;  sublimation 
of,    251 

Healings,   206 

Heaven;  see  Kingdom  of  God 

Heavens,  opened,  156,  157,  159 

Hebrew  prophecy,  33 ;  Greco-Ro- 
man paganism  and,  61 ;  Mys- 
tery-Religions and,  35,  37 

Hell,  Dante's,  58;  descents  into, 
58 

Hellenistic  thought,  29,  62 

Herod,  95,   124 

Heroes,  128,  129;  see  also  Leg- 
ends ;  Myths 

Historical  criticism,  67,  87 

History,  67 

Holy  Ghost,  124;  dove  as  symbol 
of,  158;  as  father  of  Jesus,  102, 
103 

Holy  Spirit,  46 

Home,  poetry  of,  305 

Huguenots,  269 

Humanity,  253;  of  Jesus,  15; 
Jesus'  observation  of,  132 ; 
legends  of  heroes  as  symbol  of 
highest  life,  128;  psychic  unity, 
185-186 

Hunger,  171 

Hypnotism,   19 

Hypocrisy,  309 

Hysteria,   17 

Ideas,  elementary,  106;  life  versus, 

195 
Idols,  244 
Images,   196,  205 
Imago,  paternal,  246,  250 
Incest,  54,  III,  157 
India  as  source  of  myths,  106 
Infancy,  108,  no,  112 
Initiation  rites,  262,  263 
Instincts,    18;   repression,    18,   21; 

sublimation,  21 
Intellectualism,  6 


328 


INDEX 


Introversion,  34,  40,  45,  156;  in 
Jesus'  life,  168;  psycho-analy- 
sis of,  165;  temptation  of,  165; 
three  issues  of  the  crisis,  168 

Introverts,  166,  268 

Irenaeus,  48 

Ishtar,  58 

Isis,  48,  53,  55,  288 

Jairus,  daughter  of,  219,  220,  222 

James,  William,  7 

Janet,  Pierre,  17 

Jealousy,  211 

Jensen,  Peter,  78-79,  81 

Jerusalem,  256,  309;  Jesus  in  the 
Temple,  142;  Renan  on  the  pil- 
grimage to,  144 

Jesus,  Ascension,  59;  authenticity 
of  his  words,  8g;  baptism,  153; 
"beside  himself,"  101-102;  birth, 
95;  as  bridegroom,  51;  central 
experience,  247 ;  childhood  and 
youth,  130;  Christianity's  rela- 
tion to,  62,  64;  conversion,  148; 
death,  256;  deniers  of  his  his- 
toricity, 75;  education,  131; 
Essenes  and,  137;  evolution  of 
ideas,  238;  evolution  of  soul, 
302;  following,  268;  fulfilment 
of  humanity's  dream,  261,  266; 
genealogies,  102 ;  hard  realities 
of  his  life,  300;  humanity,  15; 
introversion,  168;  libido,  254; 
love  of  mankind,  305 ;  love  of 
nature,  132 ;  Messiahship,  con- 
sciousness of,  239 ;  moral  obli- 
gation, 194,  243 ;  mythical  figure 
of,  63 ;  observation  of  human 
life,  132;  oral  tradition,  68; 
parents,  103 ;  paternal  imago 
in,  251;  Paul's  epistles  on,  66; 
personality,  89,  200,  208,  219, 
226,  238 ;  poetry  of,  295 ;  psychic 
experiences,  193 ;  psychology  of, 
90,  200 ;  Resurrection,  270 ;  sac- 
rifice, 253 ;  sayings  of,  69 ; 
Scriptural  knowledge,  134;  sin- 
lessness,  84;  sources  on  hislife, 
65;  structural  and  functional 
points  of  view  concerning,  15 ; 
sublimation  of  human  instincts, 
64;  submission,  311;  teaching, 
180;  temptation,  161;  tragic 
hours,  307 ;  Transfiguration, 
228;  youth,  130 


John,  gospel  of,  70;  problem,  67; 

psychology  of  the  author,  90 
John  the  Baptist,  69,  0,   155,  234 
Joseph,   father  of  Jesus,   102 
Joseph  of  Arimathea,  137 
Josephus,  Flavius,  65,  202 
Joshua,  cult  of,  77 
Joy,  312 

Judaic  eschatology,  196 
Judaism,  3 
Judas,  309 
Judea,  95,  97 
Judgment  Day,  194 
Jung,  C.  G.,  157;  on  introversion, 

i6s 
Jupiter,  52 

Kalthoff,  A.,  78 

Keller,  Pastor,  120 

Kierkegaard,  S.  A.,  on  the  life  of 
Jesus,  88 

King,  J.,  II 

Kingdom  of  God,  189,  190;  doc- 
trine of,  194,  197 ;  material,  198, 
199 ;  as  social  revolution,  194 

Kings,  children  as,  114 

Last  Supper;  see  Lord's  Supper 

Laws  of  nature,  202 

Lazarus,  raising  of,  219,  221,  222, 
224 

Lazarus,  rich  man  and,  195 

Lftgends,  100,  105;  origin,  126; 
psychoanalysis  and,  105 

Legion,  212 

Leuba,  J.,  7,  11 

Liberty,  24 

Libido,  20,  41 ;  childhood  and, 
147,  149;  Jesus,  243,  254;  in 
religion,  23 

Life,  227,  255,  269;  bread  of,  179, 
218;  central  experience  of  Jesus, 
242-243 ;  experience  of,  294 ; 
hating,  252;  Jesus'  gift  of, 
257;  new,  195;  progress  of  in- 
ner life  of  man,  264;  secret 
of,  244;  through   death  to,  261 

Light  t»>.f  the  world,  298 

Lilies  oj  the  field,  298 

Littre,  Emile,  on  the  accounts  of 
Jesus,  127 

Loaves,  multitude  and,  204,  216 

Logia  of  Matthew,  70,  85 

Logic,  5 

Lohengrin,  legend  of,  116 


INDEX 


329 


Lord's  Supper,  44,  45,  ^^,  141,  258, 
310 

Lost  sheep,  300 

Love,  iio;  dove  as  symbol  of, 
158;  for  father,  247;  Jesus' 
love  of  men,  305 ;  of  mother, 
IIO;  sexual  and  true,  49 

Luke,  gospel  of,  67 

Lyric  world,  296 


Maccabees,  258 

Maeder,  Dr.,  58 

Magic,  168,  169,  172,  225 

Man,  242,  253,  255 

Man  of  Sorrow,  310 

Manger,   124 

Mark,  gospel  of,  67;  authenticity, 
85 ;  priority,  68 

Markosians,  48 

Marriage,  167 ;  brother  and  sister, 
48;  Christ  and  the  Church,  51; 
symbol  of  relation  between  man 
and  God,  50 

Mary,  mother  of  Jesus,  97,  99; 
Annunciation,  loi ;  miraculous 
birth   and,    102 

Materialisation,  286 

Maternity,  53 

Matthew,  gospel  of,  6"] 

Meat  which  perisheth,  217 

Memory,  86 

Mental  disease,  207 

Messiah,  34,  36,  62,  98,  135,  164, 
178;  inadequacy  of  the  title, 
240 ;  Jesus'  feeling,  193 ;  King- 
dom of  God  and,  190;  magical, 
173 ;  reign  on  earth,   194 

Messiahship,  consciousness  of,  239 

Messianism,   164 ;  apocalyptic,   196 

Micah,  98 

Mind,  states  of,  12;  states  of, 
analysis,   16 

Miracles,  192,  201  ;  explanations, 
204;  healings,  206;  inner  mean- 
ing, 226,  227 ;  mistake  about, 
201 ;  sources,  78 ;  those  having 
moral  import,  214 ;  three  groups, 
205-206 

Mithra,  cult  of,  44,  52,  78,  264 

Moral  import  of  certain  miracles, 
214 

Mordecai,  82 

Morel,  Ferd.,  17 

Moses,  114,  205,  231,  233 


Mother,  305;  child's  love  of,  no; 
as  symbol,  187 

Mountain,  Jesus'  retirement  to, 
230 

Mystery-Religions,  3,  287 ;  Chris- 
tianity and,  2J ;  Christianity 
and,  parallelism  of  prodromes, 
2,Z',  conception  of  life  through 
death,  263 ;  desires  and  consum- 
mation, 60 ;  Hebrew  prophecy 
and,  35,  2)7 '<  psychic  nature  of 
process  that  created,  32-33 ; 
psychological  questions,  32 ; 
symbolism  and  its  relations  to 
that  of   Christianity,  38 

Mystical   experience,   245 

Mysticism,  169;  Catholic  Church's 
distinction,  169;  diabolic,  176 

Mystics,   24s,   267 

Myths,  y-],  78,  81,  105;  astral 
theory,  107,  108;  of  death  and 
resurrection,  288 ;  dreams  and, 
108;  interpretation,  two  meth- 
ods, 122 ;  psycho-analysis  and, 
105;  Rank's  type,  112;  Resur- 
rection of  Jesus  and,  288,  290; 
three  theories  as  to  formation, 
106 


Nain,  widow  of,  219,  221 

Napoleon,  75 

Natural  law,  201 

Nature,  132,  133,  296;  Jesus  and, 
298 

Nazareth,  97,  206 ;  Renan  on,  130 

Neander,  A.  W.,  on  the  Trans- 
figuration, 228 

Neo-Platonists,  31 

Nero,  65 

Nervous  disorders,  17,  19 

Neuroses,  207,  214,  283 

Neurotics,  249,  267 

New  birth,  25,  42,  56,  157,  255, 
261 ;   images   of,   262 

Nicodemus,  137 

Ninevites,  215,  304 

Nirvana,  245 

Nuns,  158 


Obedience,  260,  261 
Obligation,  194,  243 
CEdipus  complex,  no,  246 
Oint,  yy 


330 


INDEX 


Old  Testament,  3,   181 
Orphism,  31 
Osiris,  48 
Osiris-Tammuz,  "]"] 

Pagan  myths,  ^^,  78,  81 

Paganism,  gospel  of  Christ  and, 
30;  Greco-Roman,  and  Hebrew 
prophecy,  61 ;  Hellenistic,  62 ; 
in  Christianity,  64,  269;  psy- 
chology of,  4;  symbols,  57 

Palm  Sunday,  309 

Pantheism,   245 

Parables,  184,   189,  308 

Parents,  illustrious,  legend  of,  112, 
118,  124;  inferior  or  poor,  res- 
cuers  in   legends,    112,    118,    124 

Pascal,  Blaise,  114 

Paternal  imago,  246,  250;  Jesus 
and,  251 

Paternity,  51 ;  evolution  of  con- 
cept,  52 

Paul,  Saint,  expression  of,  28, 
46;  Gnosticism  and,  31 ;  on  the 
life  of  Jesus,  66,  83 ;  on  the 
Resurrection,  276-277 ;  virgin 
birth  of  Jesus  and,   103 

Pedantry,  91 

Pentecost,  294 

Perdition,  24 

Perseus,  legend  of,  114 

Persia,  134 

Personality,  Jesus  and  other  hu- 
man personalities,  13 ;  mystery 
of,  62 ;  secret  of,  14,  16 ;  suicide 
of,  169 

Personality  of  Jesus,  89,  208,  219, 
226,  238 

Persons,  evaluation  of,  12;  psy- 
chology and,  10,  12 

Peter,  84;  confession,  229,  239, 
256 

Peter,  gospel  of,  271 

Phallus,  48 

Pharisees,  181,  183 

Philo,  30 

Piety,  291 

Plato,  31 

Pilate,  yz 

Pindar,  31 

Poet,  295 

Poetry,  ill;  of  Jesus,  180,  295 

Poseidon,  78 

Posidonius,  30 

Pratt,  J.  B.,  II 


Prayer,  222;  Gethesemane  and  the 
cross,  258-259;  Jesus  on  the 
mountain,  230 

Prediction  of  misfortune,  in  leg- 
ends, 112,  118,  124 

Premonition,  222 

Primitive  peoples,  initiation  rites, 
262,  263 

Prohibitions,  181 

Projection,  119;  phenomena,  284 

Prophecy,  99;  see  also  Hebrew 
prophecy 

Prophetic  faculty,  36 

Prophetic  lines,  different  out- 
comes, 60 

Prophets,  Hebrew,  34 

Protestant    Christianity,    269 

Protestant  theologians,  6 

Psycho-analysis,  15 ;  application 
to  the  accounts  of  the  birth  of 
Jesus,  123,  125 ;  Christianity 
and,  2Z ;  paternal  imago  and, 
246;  study  of  myths  and  legends 
and,   105 

Psychology,  human,  63 ;  of  pagan- 
ism, 4;  of  religion,  7,  15;  struc- 
tural and  functional  points  of 
view,  II,  15;  theology  versus, 
9;  three  psychologies  in  the  life 
of  Jesus,  90 

Puberty,   142,   143,  262 

Purgatory,   58 

Purim,  feast  of  the,  82 

Puritans,  269 

Pythagoras,  31 

Quirinus,  95 

Rabbis,  Jewish,  86,   189,  203 

Rank,  O.,  on  the  myth  of  constant 
type,  112,   118 

Reality,  268 

Redemption,  drama  of,  259 

Reed  shaken  by  the  wind,  299 

Regeneration,  25,  30 

Relics,  worship  of,  285 

Religion,  dogmatic  conception,  5 ; 
evolution  of,  27',  psychology  of, 
a  new  idea,  7,  15;  relation  to 
life,  23 

Religious  quest,  38 

Renan,  Ernest,  on  the  Essenes, 
137 ;  on  Galilee,  133 ;  on  Jesus 
and  his  Kingdom,  198 ;  on  Naza- 
reth, 130;  on  the  parables,  185; 


INDEX 


331 


on  Persia,  134;  on  the  pilgrim- 
age to  Jerusalem,   144;   on  the 
Temptation,  162;  on  the  will  of 
Jesus,  13 
Renunciation,   157,   173,   175 
Repression    of    instincts,    18,    21 
Resurrection   of   Jesus,    257,    266; 
accounts,    270;    central    fact   of 
the   Christian   faith,  281 ;   docu- 
ments,   271;    event   itself,    280; 
material  fact,  292;  new  life  pro- 
duced by,  289 ;  Paul's  testimony, 
276-277 ;     Paul's    understanding 
of    it,    2T] ;    perversion    of    ac- 
counts,    282 ;     result    produced, 
288;  significance,  291-292;  spec- 
tacle  for  contemplation,  287 
Resurrections  from  the  dead,  219, 

221 
Righteousness,  155 
Risk,  183 

Robertson,  John   M.,   76,  82 
Romulus   and   Remus,   113 


Sabbath,  183,  303 

Sacraments,  44,  258 

Sacrifice,  50,  248,  252,  266;  in 
Jesus,  253 ;  in  the  light  of  psy- 
cho-analysis, 254;  substitute  for, 
291 

Saints,  269,  285 ;  mystic  union  with 
the  divine,  51 

Salpetriere,  La,  17 

Salvation,  24,  30,  zi^  39;  Chris- 
tian, 62 

Sargon,  legend  of,  114 

Satan,   170,   177 

Saviour-Gods,   35,   42,   76,  288 

Schema,  142 

Schleiermacher,   Friedrich,  6 

Schopenhauer,  Arthur,  243 

Schubert,  R.,  on  m3^hs,   107 

Schure,  M.,  137 

Schweitzer,   A.,    136,   232 

Scripture,    Jesus'    knowledge    of, 

134 
Secrets,  262 
Seneca,  31 
Sepulchre,  271 
Sermon  on  the  Mount,  69 
Serpent,  47,  171 
Sexual  symbols,  48 
Sexual  union  with  divinity,  46 
Sexuality,   cults  tinged   with,   55 ; 


in    conception    of    union    with 

divinity,  42  < 

Sheep  and  goats,  194 
Sheep  and  shepherds,  300,  303 
Shepherds,  103,  124 
Sickness,    183,    206,    207;    curing, 

201 
Signs,  215 
Silberer,    Herbert,     157;    on    the 

crisis      of      introversion,      168; 

"Through   Death  to  Life,"   261 
Simeon,   124 
Simplicity,  300 
Sin,   24,    183,   206 
Sincerity,  300 
Sinlessness  of  Jesus,  84 
Sinners,  Jesus  and,  155 
Skies,  opened,  156,  157,  159 
Sleep,  231,  2Z2> 
Smith,  Wm.  Benj.,  81 
Societies,  secret,  262 
Son,  Jesus  as,  54 
Son  of  God,  235,  239,  253 
Son  of  Man,   193,  194,  242 
Song  of  Songs,  51 
Sonship,  51,   160 
Soul,    ascension,    conceptions    and 

symbols,  58;  death  of,  172,  173; 

journeys  of,  58 
Sources  on  the  life  of  Jesus,  65 
Spirit,  Holy,  46 
Spiritual  body,  278,  282 
Spiritual    fact    transformed    into 

material,    283 
Spiritual  food,  217 
Spiritual    problems,   escape    from, 

284 
Spiritual  wedding,  158 
Spiritualisation,    of    symbols,    54 ; 

progressive,  57 
Spirituality,  in  Mystery-Religions, 

55 

Stapfer,  E.,  on  education  among 
the  Hebrews,  131 ;  on  the 
fourth  gospel,  72 ;  on  the  Res- 
urrection,  27s,   280 

Starbuck,   E.   D.,    11 

Stars,  107 

States  of  mind,  12;  analysis  of, 
16 

Stigmatists,  267-268 

Stoicism,  30 

Stones,  changing  into  bread,  171 ; 
for  bread,  299 

Strauss,  D.  F.,  313;  on  the  mira- 


332 


INDEX 


cles,  204,  208,  209,  210;  on  the 
Resurrection,  287,  290;  on  the 
Temptation,  162;  on  the  Trans- 
figuration, 228,  231 

Subconscious,    18,   25,    36,    109 

SubHmation  of  the  instincts,  21, 
42,   47,    55,   59,    64 

Submission,  311 

Suetonius,  65 

Supernatural,  202 

Swan,  knight  of  the,   116 

Swine,  213 

Symbolism,  agrarian,  41 ;  Chris- 
tianity and  the  Mysteries,  rela- 
tion, 38;  double — of  God  and 
of  salvation,  39;  material  and 
mystical,  41 ;  naturalistic  and 
sexual,  56;  sexual,  48 

Symbols,  61,  186;  confounded 
with  prophecy,  198;  sameness, 
187;  spiritualisation,  54;  value, 
188,  192 

Sympathy,  208 

Synoptic  problem,  67 

Taboos,  181 

Tacitus,  65,  66 

Talents,  parable  of,  308 

Tammuz,  ']^ 

Teaching  of  Jesus,  affirmative 
character,  180-181 ;  essence, 
190;  form,  180 

Telepathy,  222 

Tell,  William,  159 

Temple  at  Jerusalem,  309;  epi- 
sode,   130,    142;   pinnacle,   174 

Temptations  of  Jesus,  151,  161 ; 
first  in  detail,  171 ;  meaning  to 
Jesus,  165;  offer  of  the  three 
issues  of  introversion,  169-170; 
second  in  detail,  174;  stupidities 
on  the  subject,  162;  third  in 
detail,  176 

TertuUian,   4,   228 

Thaumaturgy,  215 

Theologians,  Christian,  9;  Protes- 
tant, 6 


Theology,  5;  Jewish,  86;  psychol- 
ogy versus,  9 

Theosophists,   137 

Theresa,  Saint,  51,   159 

Thought  and  feeling,  166 

Tiberius,  96 

Tics,  283,  287 

Totemism,  186 

Tradition  about  Jesus,  68,  71 

Tragedy,   297,   307,   309 

Transference,    119,   207,   211 

Transfiguration,  306;  three  ex- 
planations, 228 

Trust,   184 

Unconscious,  role  of,  25 
Unmorality,  248 

Venturini,   K.    H.,   137,   139,    140; 

on  the  Temptation,   162 
Vineyard,  parable  of,  308 
Virgin  birth,  99,  103 
Virgin   Mother,   53,    188 
Virgins,  parable  of,  308 
Visions,  228,  233 
Voice     from     heaven,     156,     160, 

235 
Volney,  Count  de,  75 

Water  of  life,  191 

Wieland,  C.  M.,  75-76 

Wild  beasts,   170,   171 

Wilderness,  170 

Wise  men,  103,  124 

Witnesses,  215 

Woman  taken  in  adultery,  305 

Women,  Jesus  and,  305,  306 

Word  of  God,  235 

Wrede,   W.,    136,   229 

Wundt.  W.  M.,  7 

Youth  of  Jesus,  130 

Zeus  pater,  52 

Zurich  school  of  psycho-analysts, 
20,  119,  120 


z^- 


